


Tides Brought to You

by EthelPhantom



Series: Water is the Mirror of You and I [1]
Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - No Geass (Code Geass), But no one really dies, Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Technical character drowning, Why is Anya & Gino & Suzaku not a popular tag, description of drowning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 01:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18768763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: If anyone had told Suzaku a month ago that he was going to meet actual mermaids one day he would have laughed at them and told them it was impossible — mermaids didn’t exist.And if anyone had asked Suzaku later on how the hell he ended up accidentally meeting mermaids in the small town of Pendragon, he would have first corrected them and told them to call them merpeople, said it was a funny story and then proceeded to explain how it was all Anya and Gino’s fault but that he was forever grateful to them because of it, even if he was never going to say that to their faces.





	1. Under the Water and into the Deepest of Depths

**Author's Note:**

> So here I am, posting things again. I realised this was just sitting in my drive and decided I should probably post the first chapter of it. I decided that Mermay would be good enough of an excuse to finally post it. I have actually planned the whole thing out already, but I haven't written most so yeah. But since I indeed have plans for each chapter, I think everything’s gonna be fine.
> 
> I love mermaid AUs a whole lot and like they're one of my favourite things ever, and so I decided that there could never be enough of them, which is why this happened. I'll also be able to add a lot of characters that died in canon here without any problems so that's great. 
> 
> There's description of drowning in this so if it's a trigger, skip from "Suzaku tried to cover himself from the rain with his hood and tugged it over his head" until weird, star-like characters. No one dies, though, that you don't have to worry about. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

If anyone had told Suzaku a month ago that he was going to meet actual mermaids one day he would have laughed at them and told them it was possible — mermaids didn’t exist. 

And if anyone had asked Suzaku later on how the hell he ended up  _ accidentally _ meeting mermaids in the small town of Pendragon, he would have first corrected them and told them to call them merpeople, said it was a funny story and then proceeded to explain how it was all Anya and Gino’s fault but that he was forever grateful to them because of it, even if he was never going to say that to their faces. 

Or, in all likeliness, he would have said merpeople didn’t exist and left the confused person alone as he walked to the beach he knew a few merpeople came to. 

Pendragon was, despite its small size and even smaller population, the capital of Britannia. It had once been a powerful country — an empire, in fact —, but after the current king, Odysseus eu Britannia, was crowned the king and claimed the throne, it started slowly losing the lands it had conquered. The prime minister Schneizel el Britannia — who was the second prince, in fact — tried to help Odysseus hold power over the country, to claim back the lost lands, but they weren’t really succeeding anymore. It was of no use. Eventually, that became the reason for Britannia’s downfall, as well as the reason the Knights of the Rounds were disbanded and existed no more, but that was a story for another time. 

Even so, most of the former Rounds stayed in Pendragon, just in case they would be needed again once more. One of them was Suzaku who wasn’t even a Britannian in the first place (Odysseus had been crowned three weeks after Suzaku was knighted, and so some people said he brought the misfortune that had come to be upon Britannia as he was but a mere kid from Nippon). He just so happened to be stronger than most of the other Rounds, and as he had rolled in with the Britannian army for some reason, he managed to climb up the ranks all the way to the highest and most powerful knights in the country. Now that they weren’t Rounds anymore, he lived with his friends, Anya and Gino — the three of them liked Pendragon too much to leave it behind. 

Suzaku walked along the rocky shore, watching as the uneasy ocean threw its waves against the cliffs surrounding the ness no one ever really went to — well, save for a few idiotic or reckless people who, for some reason, didn’t realise how dangerous it was. Many people had died or simply gone missing there, and no one knew why or how. Their bodies were never found. 

Suzaku wouldn’t have gone there either, but Anya and Gino dared him to go take a look — sadly, they were one of the people who refused to believe going was an act of a fool. Unfortunately, Suzaku hadn’t been able to convince his friends of that fact, and since he had lost a bet some time ago, he wasn’t even given a choice. At least they had told him he could come back home after he had taken a good picture for Anya. That girl practically lived for her phone and wanted to capture every single moment with her camera, but she couldn’t bother to walk a few kilometres it took to get to the ness herself. Honestly, the only good thing about this whole mess was that Gino had promised to buy Suzaku an iced latte if and when he came back.

The sky was rather grey. It had changed in mere twenty minutes from clear blue to this. It was raining, and Suzaku could feel cold water dripping from his hair on his shoulders. The summer was warm most of the time, sure, but whenever it rained in Pendragon, the weather became freezing. It was not one of his favourite things but he could bear it. It wasn’t like Suzaku was made of sugar or something. He just really didn’t like getting soaked. 

When Suzaku finally found a place he thought looked good enough for Anya, he stopped to find the (thankfully waterproof) camera from his bag. He’d left his phone home when he realised it was going to rain and his friends weren’t going to let him go any other time, and instead stole Gino’s camera (that he never used) for the purpose. He tried to get the camera to focus on the tall, lethal cliffs that spread beyond the dangerous waters, framing everything he could see there. It was definitely not a good time to try and shoot anything, the lighting wasn’t suitable at all, but, stubborn as he was, Suzaku told himself he could manage.

Thankfully it didn’t take him long to snap the picture (or, at least it took him less time than he originally thought and that’s what mattered). He could finally leave. Suzaku turned on his heel and started heading towards home, away from the storm and the cliffs that would be sure to kill him if he were to fall down. 

Suzaku tried to cover himself from the rain with his hood and tugged it over his head. He also wasn’t really watching where he was. It turned out to be a bad idea as he didn’t remember the cliff was slippery because when he made a misstep, his foot slipped and he fell down. And since he was walking on the edge of the cliff, it meant that he fell straight to the ocean. The camera he had been holding in his hand was left alone on the land. 

The fall felt everlasting. Suzaku was sure this was going to be the end of him and he regretted not telling his friends proper goodbyes. When was the last time he had hugged them or told them he was glad they were his best friends? Or that they were his friends at all? Or that he even cared about them? Suzaku didn’t know, he couldn’t remember. 

When he finally hit the water, Suzaku let himself sank further and further under the surface and into the deepest of depths. He only hoped that death would be quick and painless like people had told him despite never having died themselves. He could feel the water filling his lungs as he desperately tried to suck in a breath and get oxygen into his lungs, only to make him cough and swallow even more water as he breathed in after the coughing fits. It was agonising but there was nothing he could do to help it. 

Suzaku let himself be embraced by the cold, icy water. He only wished his death had had some kind of meaning to someone, that he could have at least saved someone else’s life and die because of that. 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

Lelouch had been swimming just beneath the surface of the uneasy ocean longer than he could remember. Well, technically he could remember as he only started after he realised it was going to storm, but that happened hours and hours ago, and he wasn’t sure how long it had been since. Lelouch had left Nunnally in charge of the preparations for Exelicain, the anniversary of Exelica becoming something like a country (although it was more like an empire nowadays). 

So sure, Exelicain wouldn’t be there for another few months or so, but they needed everything done and completed beforehand so that there wouldn’t even accidentally be anything left undone when the actual day came. It was the first anniversary, and while Lelouch wanted nothing as much as he wanted to be there with her, as one of the rulers he had to make sure nothing was going to bother them — like, for example, idiotic humans who never seemed to realise being near open waters during storms — especially as big as this — was not a good idea. 

Seriously, they did not need another dead corpse sinking to them. They had enough work as of now, drowning people were not a needed addition to it. 

At some point, Lelouch heard something hit the water. He turned around to swim towards the source of the sound, feeling the need to know what it was. As one of the rulers, he didn’t even have a choice, he had to. Someone had to ensure Exelica wasn’t in danger, and Lelouch was not going to let his precious little sister go and accidentally endanger herself (he knew she could take care of herself, but he really couldn’t help himself). Right now, all Lelouch hoped was that the cause of the sound wasn’t a human.

It was a human.

Of course it was a human, it was always a human. They were nothing but trouble. 

Lelouch swam towards the sinking body and grabbed it, but as he did that, he realised they were still very much alive — he could still feel a weak but steady heartbeat through the skin of their wrist. 

When he looked more carefully, he realised they were the only one of the Knights of the Rounds he had heard of but never actually seen in person before this day. He still couldn’t remember his name, though. But why was one of the Rounds here in the first place? They should be smart enough to know how damn stupid it was to go out when the weather was like  _ that _ , shouldn’t they? 

Well, whatever the reason, if they were still alive, they should be returned to their own world immediately. Humans couldn’t breathe down here, that was no surprise to anyone. Their lungs weren’t able to filter the oxygen they needed from water, unlike merpeople. Goodness, humans were  _ nothing _ but trouble  _ ever. _ Fortunately for this human, Lelouch had been nearby because they weren’t far away from death at this point. 

When he finally got to the surface, still holding the human in his arms, and pushed them above the water. He decided it was safe enough for the human to be held from their waist now that they weren’t completely under the water anymore and began dragging them towards where the shore was the lowest. It wouldn’t be the nicest place to lie on, but at least they would no longer be underwater and in immediate danger. 

But, for some reason, this specific human interested Lelouch. Maybe it was because he hadn’t talked with anyone above water in ages, or maybe it was because this human with their curly brown hair was very attractive — not that Lelouch would ever admit that out loud. 

And so Lelouch decided to wait there with them until they opened their eyes, just to make sure they were alive and okay to go back where they belonged to by themselves. Or, until someone came looking for them, that worked too. After that, they wouldn’t be Lelouch’s problem any longer. 

And that’s why he stayed. He sat on the shore next to them, offering protection for the human that couldn’t think far enough to stay safely on the mainland. He had already tried his best to get some of the water out of their lungs, as well as given them artificial respiration to the best of his abilities. Actually, he was still doing the latter because they weren’t waking up and he couldn’t feel they were breathing. Lelouch really hoped they would wake up soon because above the water was kind of cold and he felt too dry. He liked it when the water surrounded him. 

After some time of waiting, the human shot up and started coughing the water out of their lungs. Lelouch watched them carefully, wanting to see how they were doing. Judging by how long they were coughing, not well. At least they were alive. 

“I’m… Not under the water—” The human fell into a coughing fit and kept doing that for a good while, “—anymore?”, they asked. Their voice was rasp and they sounded flabbergasted. 

“Well, seeing as you can speak and breathe, you clearly aren’t”, Lelouch answered, examining the human. He tried to figure out how they were doing. Sure, he’d told himself he would leave when they opened their eyes, but now that it had happened, Lelouch didn’t find himself ready to leave quite yet. 

The human jumped a bit, startled at the voice and turned to look at Lelouch. Lelouch was actually surprised they could react this strongly and this fast after having almost died only a bit ago. The human’s eyes widened and their mouth was left hanging as their eyes got below Lelouch’s waist and they realised he had a tail instead of legs like any normal human would have expected. 

“A mermaid?”, they asked, not believing what they were seeing. Understandable. 

“Sure, if that’s what you want to tell yourself”, Lelouch replied. Giving out the fact they preferred to be called merpeople would have made it likelier they remembered seeing one after this so he didn’t do it. Seriously, he wasn’t going to risk, he was already risking enough by letting them even see him.

The human blinked a few times, and Lelouch finally paid attention to their eyes. They were beautiful and so deep green. In his opinion, they reminded him of gemstones, such as emeralds. It was like someone had replaced their eyes with a pair of those.

“Who are you?”, they asked, looking like they were still not believing what their eyes were telling them. Which was, honestly speaking, probable and understandable. 

“Lelouch. How about you?” Somehow Lelouch found himself introducing himself to this human, which was something he had never done before. But knowing as no one would believe them if they said they had seen a mermaid (a merperson, if you asked anyone who was actually familiar enough with the underwater creatures), and besides, they were probably still recovering from their near-death experience. Yeah, they had indeed almost drowned just moments ago, so like Lelouch had told himself before, it was okay. They would think they were only hallucinating. 

“I’m Suzaku”, they told him, “Suzaku Kururugi.”

“Well, it is nice to meet you, Kururugi Suzaku”, Lelouch said and, after seeing the human — Suzaku, his mind reminded him — was doing well enough, decided to leave. Lelouch dived back under the surface, but because he heard Suzaku make a sound that seemed like they wanted to say something, he popped his head above the water for the last time. 

“Thank you”, they said, “For saving my life, I mean.”

“No problem, you’re welcome. Just, don’t come here again, especially when it’s raining or storming. I will not be here to save you every time you manage to fall into the ocean”, Lelouch hummed. “Farewell, Kururugi Suzaku.”

“Hey, we need to find him!”

“I know, but we couldn’t come here before it stopped raining, Gino.”

“Why did we ever send him here?”

“Because we didn’t think it through. Let’s just hope he’s okay.”

“Suzaku! Are you there?!”

Lelouch could hear two people approaching them, shouting. They were looking for Suzaku, apparently. Well, at least if they had sent them — their friends had called them him, right? Then it was probably him — here, at least they were smart enough to come to look for him, too. 

That was Lelouch’s cue to really leave, and just like that he disappeared under the water and left. Thank heavens for the shouting, he would have noticed them so much later even with his enhanced hearing. He could not be seen by any other humans, that much was sure. He wasn’t going to risk it, given these two that were looking for Suzaku hadn’t nearly drowned, and so wouldn’t likely think they were merely hallucinating seeing merpeople. If they found out, there was always a chance that they tried to find them and that way endanger merpeople — endanger his and Nunnally’s precious subordinates, endanger their friends, endanger Nunnally. 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋ 

 

With a splash of water, Suzaku was left alone on the shore, wondering where the mermaid went. Well, under the water, for sure, but he hadn’t even seen it leave. He had turned to where he heard the voices of Anya and Gino coming from, and when he turned back, he only saw the ocean and nothing else, no traces of the mermaid ever being there.

It took him until now before he realised the mermaid had called him by ‘Kururugi Suzaku’, as though it had automatically turned his first and last name around, just like he had done himself until coming to Britannia. After all, it was the way of speaking in Nippon, his home country. How did it know that, or even realise he was from Nippon? It felt so weird.

Then he could feel strong arms being wrapped around him and squeezing him. It was Gino, no doubt. He was the physically affectionate one out of the three, Anya was much smaller than the two boys, and no one else would want to hug him. That was for sure.

“God, are you okay? You’re soaking and seem kinda odd. What happened?”, Gino asked, worrying for his friend. It was so like Gino to first dare him to do something absolutely reckless and then worry about him because of it. That boy never learned.

“I’m… alive? I think. I fell into the ocean but something got me here ‘cause I for sure did not swim while my lungs were full of water”, Suzaku stated, bursting into a coughing fit once again. This was starting to get problematic.

“You  _ what _ ?!”

“Fell into the ocean, I just told you.”

“What the hell, Suzaku, what in the world were you thinking?”

“I just slipped. And I remind you, I didn’t want to come here, but  _ some  _ people told me I have to.”

“Oh fuck, yeah, sorry.”

Suddenly Suzaku remembered the mermaid that had helped him. It was nowhere to be seen, but he wanted to ask if either of his friends had seen anything. Somehow he doubted it, but he wouldn’t lose anything by asking.

“Hey, when you came here, did you see anything odd?”

“Besides you sitting on the shore and dripping water? No.”

“Okay, thanks anyway.”

So maybe the mermaid had simply been his imagination. After all, he had almost drowned, it wouldn’t be surprising if he started hallucinating, right? Still, the memory felt a tad too real to be just that, but there was no other explanation. It was probably the tides that brought him to the shore, a lucky coincidence. That must’ve been it.

Anya had been watching the whole discussion from the side like she often did. Suzaku and Gino both knew she didn’t like talking all that much, but because she liked being included, they never left her alone unless she specifically told them that was what she wanted. But, now she was getting tired and wanted to go back home, so of course the (only) way to do just that was to talk to them.

“Hey, let’s go. Suzaku looks like he’s doing fine so he should be able to get home on his own. We need to get him to see a doctor tomorrow, though.”

“Why not today, Anya?”

“Because it’s late and we all need sleep. Especially I.”

“Okay, true.”

Gino helped Suzaku up and Anya offered to support Suzaku if need be as well. She was strong too, Suzaku knew it, so it wasn’t like he thought she couldn’t do it, but he didn’t like being useless so he refused and didn’t let even Gino help him much.

Then he remembered the camera that was probably still on the cliff. He wanted to go get it, and after some persuasion, they gave in to Suzaku if they could come with him and make sure he wasn’t going to fall again. Whatever the lucky coincidence had been, it was unlikely it was going to happen again. His friends were not going to take any risks, they didn’t want to lose him.

It didn’t take them long to find the camera and head back home. None of them wanted to spend any more time there than they had to, it was enough that one of them almost died. They seriously did not need another scare like that.

(They had already been too close to finding Suzaku dead or never finding him. The scare had been real, they didn’t want the thought they had had of a dead Suzaku become real as well.)

When they arrived home, they all pretty much slumped on the sofa and looked through the few pictures Suzaku had taken. Anya complained about the quality of them like Suzaku could have guessed, but she did express her gratefulness nonetheless. It wasn’t like Anya mentioning the bad quality of a photo was anything new or surprising, because honestly, she could have gone to anyone who didn’t know her, showed them the pictures she had taken and told them she was a professional photographer, and no one would have doubted it.

“Look, this is pretty good”, Gino said happily and pointed at one of them. It was the first Suzaku had taken while trying to focus on the mountains.

“Yeah, I guess, although I’m not sure what that is”, Anya replied, pointing at a small area in the picture, strangely purple.

“Maybe mermaids exist!”, Gino answered laughing, and added then, “Yeah, no way. They’re just imaginary creatures of the seas.”

“It was anyway probably just reflected from somewhere”, Anya said with a monotonous voice.

But Suzaku’s mind couldn’t stop thinking about what Gino said. Hadn’t the mermaid he hallucinated had a purple tail? Yeah, it had. So, could it be that that mermaid did really exist? Suzaku wasn’t going to say a word about to his friends about it, they would think he was crazy and had hit his head (he probably had, but that was another thing), but he was also not going to let this go.

He needed to go back to the ness at some point, just not today. Like Anya had said, it was late and they needed sleep. But the next day, or whenever it was a clear day, at least, he would go back. Suzaku needed to understand what the hell had happened, and if there was a chance mermaids existed, he wanted to know.

“We’re going to sleep now, Suzaku, so come. You need rest after this day, life seemed pretty determined to fuck with you”, Gino said, swinging an arm around Suzaku's shoulders. He began dragging Suzaku towards the bed, the camera Suzaku was holding left lying on the floor. Anya yawned and followed them to the bedroom, basically falling on her bed face first.

Gino dropped Suzaku off at his bed and then climbed to his own that was above the others’ — Gino liked being able to place his desk under his bed so it worked well for him. Suzaku and Anya stole it every now and then, though, if they wanted to be left alone. Anya’s was the softest so if one of them was having a bad day, they went there, while Suzaku’s was the most comfortable for actual sleeping, so he was the one who most often found someone who did  _ not  _ belong to his bed sleeping in his bed. He was pretty used to his friends doing it by now though, so it was fine.

As Suzaku closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, he could picture a certain mermaid with a purple tail in his dreams scarily well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading, I'll try to get back to writing this story as soon as I can. 
> 
> I very much love reading your comments so don't be afraid to tell me your thoughts on this! I'll also answer almost any questions you have of this AU if you just comment them. 
> 
> You can find my designs for Nunnally [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BvACrXwn7_D/) and Lelouch [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BuzT0shhrRm/). (The links lead to my art instagram).
> 
>  
> 
> Come talk to me about anything, especially CG, on [tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/)!


	2. From Above the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know, rational thinking was always one of Lelouch's strengths, but maybe it didn’t work as well when he met interesting human boys — or in this case, a boy named Kururugi Suzaku. 
> 
> Humans were so _troublesome_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm back again, couldn’t wait to post this. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update the next time though since I'm not home all week, but let's hope it's happens soon enough. 
> 
> Oh, we'll be referring to Japan and the Japanese as Nippon and Nipponjin since they sound better to me for this AU. Just so you know. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Had anyone suggested that Lelouch would take interest into a human of all things just a mere day before, he would have told them that that was never going to happen. There was no way it could because he didn’t even like them. They were problematic, greedy and liked fighting and killing. Well, maybe they didn’t necessarily  _ like _ it but even so that’s exactly what they kept on doing without even trying to stop. They didn’t think twice before endangering those they didn’t like or care about on a personal level. They kept destroying, that was all they were good for.

_ Humans were just trouble. _

Well, now while he would still have denied liking humans to anyone or in anyone’s hearing range, to himself he had to admit that yes, he had also indeed been fascinated by one, somehow. A brunet Knight of the Rounds that had somehow ended up falling into the water and nearly drowned. Kururugi Suzaku, he had introduced himself.

Well, technically that was the way Lelouch called him because Suzaku was clearly from Nippon, even though his eyes were that of a Britannian. Well, maybe there was someone not Nipponjin in his family tree and then he had inherited the trait.

Oh well, that wasn’t Lelouch’s concern in the least, Lelouch was supposed to be helping his sister with preparations. Lelouch swam towards Exelica, the kind and gentle land he and Nunnally had created. They ruled it together and loved it very much, both Exelica itself as well as all of its people — well, as people as merpeople could be. It was like the merpeople’s very own peaceful and safe world.

And then he could see his sister swim towards him. Lelouch stopped, knowing that if he kept on moving, the two of them would eventually collide and then one or both of them would get hurt. He wasn’t going to let Nunnally get hurt, that he knew. If there was even a chance that was going to happen, he would try his damnedest first to prevent it from happening.

Nunnally hugged her brother tightly and wrapped her tail around him, leaving him little to no space to move.

“Big brother! Welcome back! Where were you this long?”, she asked after removing herself from Lelouch. Lelouch pecked her forehead, making her giggle and smile, which he thought was probably the most adorable thing he knew.

“I was guarding the surface. It was storming above water the water again. The weather hasn’t really given Pendragon any mercy lately”, Lelouch replied and began swimming towards Exelica by Nunnally’s side.

“Was there anything out of order happening?”, she asked, “Like people not thinking yet again and almost falling into the water?”

“Yes, except that this time someone did fall. It was one of the Rounds, too. He fell from those cliffs surrounding the ness into the ocean and nearly drowned. He should thank his luck I was nearby because otherwise he would most definitely have drowned”, Lelouch sighed and shook his head. “I watched over him for a while to make sure he would survive and talked with him a little after he finally woke up.”

"One of the Rounds? Shouldn't they of all people know it isn't safe to move near the raging ocean,  _ especially  _ when it's stormy?"

"So I thought, but there he was, water filling his lungs anyway."

"What was his name?"

“I'm quite sure he told his name was Kururugi Suzaku." 

"The one we haven't personally met?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Kururugi Suzaku, you say?"

There was suddenly a third voice in the conversation which startled Lelouch. He jumped to the side, only to hear his sister and friend laugh at him in unison.

“You never fail to amaze me how you can be startled so easily. As the practical king of Exelica, you shouldn't let yourself get so jumpy so easily”, Milly laughed and poked Lelouch’s nose. He backed away from her to avoid the rest of the possible (very likely) poking. “Anyway, were you just talking about Kururugi Suzaku?”

“Yes, big brother met him above the surface today!”, Nunnally explained cheerfully.

“More like saved”, Lelouch interrupted. “The fool nearly drowned. I think he fell from the ness, possibly slipped on the wet rock or something. I did not stay to ask.”

“So he  _ still _ doesn’t know how to take care of himself? Oh dear god, what will become of him?”

Lelouch turned to Milly, surprised. “You actually know him?”

“Do I know him? Of course I do, we are friends! Well, were… before  _ that  _ happened. Anyway, what might you think of him, dearest Lelouch?”

“Besides the fact I think he’s a fool?”

“Like, attractive, handsome, h—”

“I think that’s enough.”

“You did not answer the question!”

Lelouch groaned. His friends were insufferable. He loved them but sometimes they didn’t know when to quit. Oh well, the easiest way to maybe (hopefully) get rid of Milly for a while was to answer her questions.

“Yeah, I guess he looks good”, Lelouch said and turned to leave (after all, he did have work to do), but Milly grabbed him by the arm, not allowing him to go. He sighed and didn’t resist. It was always easier to go by her antics — especially since she was both faster and stronger than he was.

“Nuh-uh, you aren’t yet going anywhere, we are still talking about this newfound crush of yours”, Milly grinned, leaving Lelouch confused. Crush? No, there was no crush, he had simply met this Suzaku once and exchanged a few words with him, nothing more.

“What crush, Milly?”

“The one you’ve got on Suzaku.”

“I’m not crushing on him!”

“You totally are — and if you aren’t yet, you will be.”

Nunnally shook her head and went between the two, pushing Milly gently aside. “I think that is enough. We all have things to do, and besides, big brother has met that boy once, Milly. I don’t think he’d start crushing on someone without at least knowing them a bit better.”

Oh, sweet Nunnally, always having her brother’s back because Milly never realises she should probably stop. Lelouch was definitely grateful to Nunnally. She was amazing, and he decided he was never going to choose anyone or anything over his adorable and strong little sister, no matter what. Not unless Nunnally herself so wished. 

The preparations they were working on at the moment went well and were taken care of quite quickly. Right now it was mostly organising and getting a space for as many merpeople as possible they could since they needed that at least mostly done before thinking of any speeches, possible artists and the like.

When they were done, Nunnally and Milly decided to go out to eat. They did invite Lelouch as well, but he wanted to take some alone time and just swim around the ocean. Milly wished him happy search-for-Suzaku time, Nunnally told him to try and relax a bit. Lelouch simply ignored Milly (she had the audacity to look offended) while he hugged his sister.

Like one may have guessed, he went back to the surface. It was not like he was trying to find the human he’d taken interest in, no. It was just because — okay fine, it was because he was wishing to see Suzaku. Maybe not talk with him or anything, it was just that Lelouch hadn’t seen humans in a long time save for when he saved them from drowning, and something about this specific human fascinated him. He had no idea why though, which bothered him, a lot.  

But even so, Lelouch really hadn’t expected to see him. Suzaku had likely thought Lelouch was just a hallucination or something, so hearing his name being called from  _ above _ the surface surprised him. He looked around and finally saw the boy from earlier there, sitting on the shore, (thankfully) not in any danger this time around. When he noticed Lelouch, he waved, like Lelouch guessed he would when he was happy. He did not seem dangerous (sure, he was one of the Rounds, but that did not always equal dangerous, just a strong and powerful soldier), so Lelouch took the calculated risk and swam towards him.

This was either going to be one of the best or worst decisions he had ever made in his life. He was not yet sure which it was.

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

Suzaku had, frankly speaking, been a bit too interested to see the weird sea creature again. He didn’t even have any idea whether it was dangerous or not. Sure, it had saved him (probably) from drowning and then just sat there with him until he was awake and had never seemed keen on attacking him, but still. It wasn’t a human. It wouldn’t be considerate or likely think of people's feelings, it likely wasn’t capable of empathy. And besides, everyone always said that mermaids drowned people, and he didn't know what else would explain so many unexplainable cases of people going missing at the waters.

But even so, this mermaid (Lelouch, his mind helpfully supplied) had somehow caught his interest and he wanted to see it again (it only quickly crossed his mind that it might be rude to call the creature ‘it’, but then it was gone again) and hopefully have a short conversation with it. And, if nothing else, he wanted to at least express his gratitude once more — saving someone’s life isn’t a small thing, at least most of the time. Not to him.

So, that meant he went back to the ness, the rocky shores and the lethal cliffs where he had nearly breathed his last breath only a mere day before, just because he wanted to see someone he’d never properly met. Well, it couldn’t be that bad, right?

But of course he couldn’t see the mermaid anywhere. It was not surprising at all, but even so it was frustrating. Oh, but he knew its name — or at least the one it had given him, maybe he should try calling for it. That might help? At the very least, it was worth the try. He would lose nothing by doing it.

 

Suzaku walked to where the shore was lowest and sat down. He adjusted his position slightly, the ground under him slightly uncomfortable to be on.

“Lelouch! Are you there? Lelouch!”

For a while nothing seemed to happen, but then a head popped up from below the surface and looked around. Suzaku began waving at the person, now smiling. He was quite sure it was the same mermaid from before. Then Suzaku saw a pair of eyes staring directly at him, having without a doubt noticed him. The look in its eyes was seemingly surprised, but the creature swam towards him regardless its initial surprise. It didn’t take him long to see a beautiful, shiny purple tail just below the water’s surface. It was definitely the same mermaid from before.

“What in the world are you doing here? Did you not learn your lesson last time?”, it asked, looking like it wanted to yell at him for being stupid or something like that. Maybe it did.

“Well, I did see a mermaid yesterday, so I wanted to see it again and—”, he began before the mermaid shook its head with an exasperated sigh and then interrupted him. The expression on his face looked now a bit insulted, or rather, very offended. Shit. Hopefully it wouldn't drown him.

“A mer _person_ , and not ‘it’, but ‘he’. I’m just as much of a person as you are, I'm not an object.”

Suzaku mentally punched himself for ever calling the mermai— merperson ‘it’, and reminded himself to stop doing it by accident ever again.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you! I just—”

“Hadn’t realised merpeople existed and accidentally ended up doing that? It’s fine, just don’t do it again, or I’ll be obligated to lecture you again — and not so nicely.”

“Of course, I won’t do it again, I promise!”

Suzaku put his hand over his heart as a gesture he solemnly swore to never do it again. The merma—  _ merperson _ chuckled, and man, if that wasn’t one of the most enchanting sounds Suzaku had ever heard in his life.

“Well, Kururugi Suzaku, why did you come here, and why did you call for me? You don’t seem to be in any danger I would need to save you from, or am I wrong in my deductions?”, the merperson asked, raising his brow questioningly. He still looked amused, though.

“No, I just wanted to meet you again, to thank you, I mean”, he replied, looking at Lelouch, studying his appearance. He seemed to have a frail body, as well as very fair skin — it was like he hadn’t see the Sun in ages. His raven, silky hair was pretty long and framed his face elegantly. Suzaku maybe kind of wanted to pet it. He also possessed a pair of vibrant purple eyes, almost the same colour as his tail, both enchanting. Then his eyes were drawn to the gemstones — or at least they looked like gemstones — decorating his face just under his eyes. Their colour brought out the shine of his eyes even better. He also had some golden ornaments around his arms near his shoulders, as well as thin silver chains in the form of a crown or the like on his head.

“Really? I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t come here just for that, especially as I’m quite sure you thanked me already — was it yesterday?”

“Why could I not come here simply for that?”

“Of course you  _ could _ . I just find it extremely unlikely.”

“Fine, maybe I wanted to talk to you. I’ve never met a merperson before, so you can’t blame me for being interested.”

Lelouch chuckled again and shook his head. “No, I suppose I can’t. After all, I do find you fascinating as well.”

Suzaku’s eyes widened. He didn’t know this merperson well (having now met him twice), but even so he had never expected him to say that. Frankly speaking, he didn’t ever expect anyone to say that, but especially not this gorgeous— wait what? That had absolutely nothing to do with anything, so why was Suzaku thinking that? Sure, he was gorgeous, but — god, he needed to make his thoughts stop doing that.

“Well, unless you don’t want to spend any more time with me, I’d maybe want to get to know you”, Suzaku suggested with a sheepish smile. He hoped the boy — Man?? Merperson?? He didn’t know what to call him — would say yes and not leave. He really did want to get to know him.

The boy shrugged and pulled himself on the rock next to the shore. “Sure, why not?”, he said. “Although, if you try anything funny I  _ will _ make you regret all your life choices. There’s always a way to do that.”

While the threat wasn’t anything really bad — just think of it, a merperson can’t even come to the land —, it still made Suzaku shiver. The cold voice and cruel look that was there in Lelouch’s eyes for a second became singlehandedly the most terrifying thing Suzaku had ever experienced — and he was once one of the Rounds.

“I wasn’t going to do anything, I swear! And somehow I don’t even doubt you being able to do just that.”

“Good. Anyway, what do you want to know?”

“How old are you?”, Suzaku asked. Lelouch looked surprised for a moment, as though he hadn’t been expecting that question at all. Maybe he hadn’t, maybe he’d thought Suzaku was going to ask a ton of questions about merpeople themselves, but no, he wanted to get to know this specific merperson.

“I believe I’m technically 18 in your years. How about you?”

“Oh, I’m soon 18, in two weeks, actually.”

“Do you have any family? Ah, expect that might be a rude question, so you don’t have to answer, sorry.”

Lelouch laughed at him, and Suzaku wasn’t sure whether he should be offended or not. Probably not, since he liked the sound of his laugh anyway.

“It’s not rude, Kururugi Suzaku. But, to answer it, yes, I do have family, although I only know where my younger sister is. If you ever try to harm her, you’re dead.” The last sentence was spoken coldly again, and Suzaku could barely hear it since Lelouch had said it so quietly. So, apparently Lelouch was the protective type of an older brother. That was fine, it was kind of cu— oh god, no, he really needed to stop himself before this went on too long.

“Hey, I was just wondering, why do you keep calling me ‘Kururugi Suzaku’? And how did you even flip my name backwards when I’m pretty sure I introduced myself yesterday as ‘Suzaku Kururugi’?”

He had actually wondered that now for a short while, not being able to come up with any explanations for it.

“You’re from Nippon, aren’t you?”

“How did you even kn—”

“Your name. Anyway, I’m fairly sure I’m correct about this, but the Nipponjin do traditionally say their last name before their first, am I right? And since you’re in Britannia now, as well as one of the Rounds, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if you were forced to go by our way and that by now you would be simply used to it. Oh, and because I’m not too familiar with Nipponjin traditions, I didn’t know what would be a polite way to call you so I just went by your full name.”

Suzaku’s mouth fell open. He most definitely had not expected this merperson to know anything about the Nipponjin traditions, let alone act on them, out of sheer respect towards his culture, nor did he think this merperson would even think about whether he was polite towards him or not just because he could. No Britannian had ever done that (okay, fine, Gino had tried but he failed so miserably that Suzaku just told him to give up), so why would someone not even human do it for him?

“How are you even aware of the Nipponjin traditions when you live nowhere near it? Considering you said you’re eighteen in our years, I don’t really see you having been there much, if even visited it. Also, our?”

The merperson shook his head. “Goodness, I am not completely unaware of what’s going on in the world. I’m also rather knowledgeable of the traditions of most big countries, it’s kind of important thing to know about.” He was saying it as though it was obvious. To him, maybe it was. “Do they not teach anything to Britannians anymore? Oh, wait, Schneizel is trying to control everything, right? That would explain it. And by ‘our’ I mean the ones that live near Pendragon, they all usually have similar traits to Britannia despite species. Not the same, but similar.”

Lelouch spoke of Prime Minister Schneizel with venom dripping from his voice, and Suzaku didn’t know or understand where that much of anger directed at the prince could come from. He didn’t know him and lived in the ocean, so how would Schneizel affect him that much? Also, somehow the way he talked about the Prime Minister sounded like he knew him personally, too.

“Yes, he is the Prime Minister, but Odysseus eu Britannia is the King, so it’s not like he’s actually in charge.”

“Oh, Odysseus can’t even form his own opinions, do you think he’s actually capable of running a country without Schneizel holding the reins behind him?” Oh the hateful tone in Lelouch’s voice. Not the most pleasant thing Suzaku could think of. Also, still, Lelouch spoke of the two like he knew them personally.

“Now that you mention it, probably not. How do you even know that much about Britannian politics?”

Now that made Lelouch freeze. Not for long, but it was enough for Suzaku to notice it. Lelouch said something about having his ways, but something in it couldn’t quite convince Suzaku. For some reason he wanted to trust the merperson. He was not going to pressure him into telling — especially since that was most likely going to mean never meeting him again.

At some point they realised they had been talking for the past two hours already — which, in turn, meant that it was also getting late and Suzaku should go home. During those two hours they had gotten to know each other, and if you were to ask Suzaku what they were, he would have answered that they could be becoming friends. At least that’s how it was looking like at the moment. Hopefully he wasn’t going to fuck anything up, Lelouch was still as — if not even more — interesting as before, and now that he knew him a bit, he thought he was also kind and caring even if the man himself seemed to deny even the possibility.

Now he knew Lelouch was in charge of an underwater kingdom called Exelica, having created it with his sister some time ago (maybe a year ago? Suzaku didn’t quite remember). He also had some friends, missed some of his family (Suzaku still had no idea how Lelouch had lost them but he wasn’t going to pry), and was  _ most definitely _ the definition of an overprotective older brother. There was no question about that, really. Lelouch would also apparently give up anything he owned or liked if it meant his sister were to be happy and safe.  

Overall Lelouch was nice, and Suzaku felt comfortable talking to him. It was like, while they didn’t know that much of each other, they had known one another far longer. Maybe there was another world where they knew each other, or possibly multiple, and that’s why Suzaku felt so connected to Lelouch immediately. Suzaku was glad they had met each other, although he still didn’t like the fact it happened because he had almost drowned. He wouldn’t do it again even if it meant finding another great person like Lelouch. Lelouch had, for his part, said that he’d rather not save Suzaku again if possible — it was not something he liked spending his time doing.

“I wonder if we could meet again?”, Suzaku finally said when he decided he should start heading back to his apartment. He wished they could, he wanted to be friends with Lelouch, he really did.

“I would like that, although, it can’t be whenever, I do have a lot to take care of elsewhere — and you can  _ not  _ call for me every time you come here. First of all, I won’t be able to hear it unless I’m near, and secondly, since humans have wronged merpeople so many times, most — especially I — don’t usually take kindly humans knowing about us.”

“Am I an exception?”

“We’ll have to see.”

Suzaku grinned. He supposed it was good enough and he wasn’t going to betray Lelouch’s hopefully inchoating trust. He decided he wouldn’t.

“So, if we’re gonna meet again, can we decide when? Because I don’t think I can keep coming here all the time just to check if you are free”, Suzaku asked. It was true, he had Anya and Gino who wouldn’t let him do it. And even if he didn’t, he also had applied for a job in the cafe of his parental figures, Ms. Cécile and Lloyd. If he did get in, that would also make it more difficult to make time for meetings with a merperson.

“How about tomorrow at this time? The same place, of course.”

“That sounds good! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Suzaku waved his goodbyes to Lelouch, and didn’t stay long enough to see Lelouch shake his head smiling and waving back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this!
> 
> If you have any questions about the AU, I'll happily answer any that don't spoil the story. 
> 
> And you'll find Milly's design [here](https://www.instagram.com/daicrimeth/p/BvyxIoGB7Bu/?igshid=1xt48pbi52oq4), if you want to check it.
> 
> Comments and Kudos always make my day so please don't be afraid to tell me your thoughts on this!


	3. Underneath the Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Lelouch is indeed a protective big brother, but to stay in the facts, Nunnally is also a protective little sister, and she is worried about her brother. He's been swimming off a lot without a word, and Nunnally is worried so she, like any reasonable little sister, follows him.
> 
> She definitely didn’t expect to see this, of all the things possible. 
> 
> (In which Nunnally and Gino both freak out for similar yet entirely different reasons.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I finally finished this chapter. Please welcome Nunnally into this fic, because she's here to stay. 
> 
> Also, just a heads-up, there's a mention of child abuse here, but just a mention and nothing explicit or anything. 
> 
> Also, I wonder how Lelouch and Nunnally indeed know so much about Britannia's matters and people. Hmh.

So.

Nunnally loved and trusted her dear big brother very much, but disappearing every now and then without giving her any explanations as to what he was doing was not like Lelouch at all, and so she was getting worried about him.

For the past two weeks Lelouch had went somewhere just about every other day, and Nunnally still had no idea of what was going on. She was certain he was doing nothing that would make him deliberately endanger her or other merpeople, she trusted her big brother and knew he would never do such a thing, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t bother her. A lot. She had gotten no explanations as to what he was doing and where he was disappearing just before Exelicain and she didn’t like it.

And now he was gone again.

Again, without an explanation. Not even a vague one.

So, while she trusted her brother very much, she needed to know what was happening. It wasn’t okay that he kept secrets from her when he very well knew she hated not knowing more than almost anything else. He also knew why she hated it perfectly well, and that was why until now he had made it his job to tell her everything he thought was important or Nunnally would be interested to know. He was one of the only ones in the entire world who knew exactly just how much she hated it.

And that was why she needed to follow him this one time and find out what he was doing. After that she wouldn’t need to, not unless it was something horrible she found out. But, that couldn’t be the case, her brother was very careful about anything and everything, at least most of the time. She could just leave right away after seeing everything was alright.

(She did have a vague idea of what could be going on, though, because after all, this started just about right after he met that Round. But Lelouch, of all the merpeople, wouldn’t do anything like that, right?)

“Milly, I have to do some things so I need to leave the preparations to you, which in turn means you’re now the responsible one for everything here until big brother or I come back. Is that fine with you? You could of course ask Sayoko for help should the need be”, Nunnally asked with a sweet smile painted on her face. She knew that pretty much no one (especially Lelouch and Milly) would be able to deny her anything she happened to request if she just looked like a little, sweet girl. She tended not to do it because she thought it manipulative and she didn’t enjoy doing it, but sometimes — just sometimes — it could help getting things done faster, when it mattered. This, this was one of the times it was helpful.

“Yeah, sure! That’s  _ perfectly fine _ with me. Any specific time I should expect you back?”, Milly asked, and Nunnally could have sworn she saw a mischievous glint in her eyes. Nunnally was suddenly having second thoughts about leaving Milly unsupervised. She was someone Nunnally trusted a lot, yet someone whose next actions she thought difficult to foresee. But, since she really needed to go see what Lelouch was doing, she had no time for those second thoughts.

“No, but I believe I will be back within the next five hours. I trust you won’t try to turn the celebrations into a school festival.”

“Of course not! Have fun, empress!”

Nunnally shook her head fondly and pushed all the underlying suspicions she had of what Milly would do to the back of her mind. Now was not a good time to think about them.

She waved to Milly and then left to find her brother. She didn’t actually know where he was or where to look, but the first place to check was always near the surface if it wasn’t the palace (specifically his room) or her side. He was always near her, and he had told her to look from near the surface if she could find him nowhere else. So, since he was neither with her or in his room, the surface was the only place she had left.

When she approached the surface, she could easily make out a purple tail that most definitely belonged to her brother above her. Nunnally felt a smile appear on her face out of relief because she had finally found him, but then she stopped like someone had placed an invisible wall in front of her. She could hear him talking to someone but there was no other tail to be seen so… A human? What in the world did he think he was doing?

Nunnally swam to the other direction and up, planning on seeing what he was doing with her own two eyes slightly farther away so he couldn’t notice her at least as quickly. If he hadn’t already moved to check who was coming by now because he was so interested in whatever it was he was doing, he wouldn’t notice her so easily later on either.

And so, from what was possibly fifteen metres behind Lelouch, she found herself looking at her brother and a human boy, engaged in a conversation. They were talking a lot which could have been a fight if not for the relaxed postures they were both in. Seriously, to Nunnally, the weirdest thing about it all was indeed that neither seemed ready to fight, and both had their shoulders unclenched. The human boy laughed wholeheartedly every now and then, and Nunnally could hear Lelouch huff in amusement as well. As though they were friends. Nunnally swam closer to see who the other one was and it didn’t take her long to realise that the curly  haired boy was that one Round they had never officially met — which in turn meant the boy was the same Lelouch said he saved two weeks back.

She dived back underwater and swam towards her brother as fast as she could. When she got to them, she grabbed Lelouch’s tail and tugged him underwater. Lelouch let out a yelp and struggled in her hold but because she was too determined to do this to let go, he couldn't get out of her grip.

“What in the world are you doing? That’s a human! And not only is he a human, but he’s also one of the Rounds! It isn’t safe, big brother!”, she yelled when she finally stopped, having dragged him far enough from the surface. “What if he tells everyone and then we are in danger? What would you do then? We can’t move Exelica elsewhere. Besides, what if he recognises you?”

“Well, first of all, if he were to recognise me, he would have already done it. It’s been two years in their world, he never did see us, and besides, no one would expect to know merpeople. We look too different for him to connect the dots. Second of all, he’s probably more scared of me than any of us needs to be of him so everything is alright. But, if it worries you too much, I can stop meeting him after this. I’d do anything for you, and that wouldn’t even be a lot.”

Nunnally could sense the light sadness in her brother’s voice as he said he could stop meeting the human if she so wished, and Nunnally didn’t like that tone at all. She especially didn’t like knowing Lelouch would give up something he clearly enjoyed doing only for her, even though it made him upset. She didn’t like being the reason he was anything but happy.

She sighed and let a small smile appear on her face as she looked at her brother. “Fine, but only if I get to meet this Round you so obviously enjoy talking to. You’ve known him for, what, two weeks and you already look like you’re perfectly comfortable with him — which happens just about never when it comes to you and getting to know others”, she decided and finally let go of Lelouch. Then she decided she wanted a hug and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“Thank you, Nunnally.” Lelouch smiled and accepted the hug, squeezing her back.

When she let go of him (it took a while, she hadn’t got to spend a lot of time with him lately), he kissed her forehead and then swam upwards to see if his friend was still there. He was. Nunnally could see him as she followed right behind her brother.

“What happened? Are you okay?”, the Round asked right away when he saw Lelouch. Nunnally appreciated that she heard a genuinely worried tone echo in his voice. It told her he actually cared.

“Yes, I’m alright, and as to what happened, here’s your answer. Say hello”, Lelouch replied and gestured to where Nunnally just then broke the surface and waved lightly, a smile on her face.

The Round — Kururugi Suzaku if she was correct — looked at her and, startled, jumped backwards. He almost fell down and hit his head. Goodness. He was clearly not expecting to meet another merperson so soon, if at all. “Wha—”

“Konnichiwa, Kururugi-san”, she said and bowed her head slightly, so slightly it was more of a nod. She couldn’t really give a deeper bow in water. Nunnally remembered studying some things of the Nipponjin culture a long time ago, especially about their greetings, and decided that it was a good time to try and remember how to do those things. She had also had Kallen teach her because she knew so much more about it. That, and she was good company so Nunnally enjoyed it a lot. “Hajimemashite?”

Lelouch smiled and shook lightly, looking like he was trying to hold back a laugh. Nunnally was puzzled as to why until she looked at the human and how he looked like post the initial shock — his mouth was hanging wide open, completely flabbergasted. He was leaning on his elbows as he tried not to lose his sight of her. She knew immediately he couldn’t believe his eyes or ears at all. Unlike her brother, Nunnally didn’t even try to hold back her laugh and dived underwater to conceal it. 

This boy would be so much fun so long as he showed he could be trusted. 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

“Konnichiwa, Kururugi-san. Hajimemashite?”

The girl had a Britannian (or possibly Exelican?) accent, and her voice wasn’t steady as she said the words, and that was why he knew she wasn’t used to speaking his language, but the fact she still knew how to pronounce it and even bowed her head was astounding in itself. That, and the fact she had even bothered to learn a proper way to greet a Nipponjin. He was, the least to say, surprised and very, very shocked. He was also touched.

Then all of a sudden the girl dived underwater. Suzaku could see bubbles pop up at the surface and it took him quite the while before he realised she was laughing, and even that he only realised because he looked at Lelouch, about to ask what happened as he saw he too looked like he was fighting back a laugh.

“Do I have something on my face?”, Suzaku asked, to which Lelouch only shook his head, his smile never once leaving his lips. “Then what…?”

“Your reaction to her talking in Nipponjin to you was quite… amusing”, Lelouch said, still smiling. Oh god, that smile, it was so— Yeah no, he was not going there. Humans should never think such things of merpeople, that was not good.

The girl came back up and watched him. It was kind of nerve-wracking. She was adorable and looked like a little kid, fifteen at most, but even so she had the same kind of an aura as Lelouch did, and her purple eyes were watchful and kept track of his every move, just like Lelouch’s. It felt like she could see through him. The both of them also had this glint in their eyes of which Suzaku’s brain seemed to try to warn Suzaku about. It told him they were both capable of doing great evil without even breaking a sweat, without a blink of an eye.

But, even then, something about them almost radiated love and kindness, which, in turn, comforted Suzaku and made him want to stay and be with them. He hoped he wasn’t wrong to do that, because if something happened, he could have probably just as well signed his own death warrant himself.

“So, who are you? I mean, I know your name, but other than that. He hadn’t told me anything about you”, the girl said and shot a pointed look at Lelouch during the last sentence.

“You didn’t ask me.”

“You usually tell me just about everything right away because you know how I feel about not being aware of important things, and now you’ve been swimming off without a word for the past two weeks. Otherwise I wouldn’t even mind, but you’re doing it just before Exelicain and it’s kind of making me suspicious.”

“..You’re right. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

The banter between the two merpeople seemed familiar and something between close friends, family, or… well, lovers. Suzaku was surprised to find that his guts twisted at the thought and that he felt envious thinking about the possibility the two merpeople were lovers. That didn’t mean anything though, right?

“Well, if you know my name, you already know that I am Suzaku Kururugi, and by the way, you can just call me Suzaku. Kururugi-san sounds too formal now that I’ve lived in Britannia for years. Besides that, I am Nipponjin and a human, I turn 18 soon — in three weeks, actually —, and I’m the Knight of Seven. Oh, by the way, the Knight of Seven is a place among the greatest knights we have in Britannia, who are called the Knights of the Round, and there are 12 of us. The number basically tells how good you are, like the Knight of One is the best and closest to the king, while the Knight of Twelve is not so good—”

The girl spoke again, looking at Lelouch with an exasperated sigh. It immediately caught Suzaku’s attention. “How long are you gonna let him do that?”

“Just… I don’t know, just give me a minute”, Lelouch replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What?”

“It’s just that we both know fully well who the Rounds are, so we don’t need the explanation. I’m sorry he didn’t say so.”

“Oh, okay.”

“We were also perfectly aware you were a Round. I apologise I didn’t say I knew, I should have.”

“How did you—”

“We have our ways.”

Suzaku immediately noticed how both Lelouch and this girl answered with a variant of an “I have my ways” whenever he asked something they wanted to keep something a secret, and up until now every single one of those times were times he questioned their (although mostly Lelouch’s, after all, he only knew him until now) too great knowledge of Britannia, but because Suzaku had no idea what to make of that, he let it be.

“How about you, then? Who are you?”, he asked the girl, not knowing what to expect. Lelouch had surprised him so many times that he was ready to hear anything, although he knew he wouldn’t be able not to be surprised.

“So, my name is Nunnally, and I am basically the queen of Exelica. I believe he’s told you it’s an underwater kingdom. He—” she pointed at Lelouch, “—is the king of it.”

It took Suzaku a second to connect the dots and realise who this little merperson was. “You’re  _ the  _ little sister?” He noticed Nunnally arch her brows questioningly, so he hurried to provide her an explanation. “Lelouch has mentioned you a few times. Not by name, though, he mostly just keeps saying that he adores his little sister and that were I ever to touch even a strand of her hair, the next thing I would know was that I were murdered in cold blood and left rotting to a beach — or, well, that’s how it pretty much sounds to me”, Suzaku said laughing and earned a cold glare from Lelouch with it. Definitely worth it because he saw Nunnally smile, and she was adorable. He could understand why Lelouch was protective of her.

“Yes, I’m his little sister. It’s lovely to meet you finally. He’s seemed happier lately, so whatever it is you’re doing with him, keep it up. You’re good for him, and I want to see him happy”, Nunnally said. Suzaku could easily see similarities in her and Lelouch’s smiles and other mannerisms, from the way they took up a lot of room and made it their purpose to look as majestic as they could (he was sure it was done unconsciously), always to the way they looked at him like they knew everything about him with one glance and how both their smiles made him think they were holding and  _ hiding  _ grudges and venom behind them.

Still, Nunnally looked kinder and gentler than Lelouch did. Suzaku’s guess was that it had something to do with how her facial expressions were softer than Lelouch’s, or how warm her voice was, or possibly it was because she was physically smaller and looked even more fragile than Lelouch did. Well, whatever the reason, they were both adorable and good-looking, objectively speaking.

Suzaku let out a quiet sigh of relief as he realised the two were indeed merely siblings and nothing else. He wasn’t certain why, though. Certainly it didn’t mean anything special.

“I’m glad you’re fine with me knowing about you. I swear I won’t betray your trust!”

Nunnally chuckled. “Good. I’m sure big brother has already told you nothing good will ever follow if you even as much as mention us to anyone, and since I know he can be kind of intimidating in other people’s eyes—”

“ _ ‘Kind of’ _ .”

“—I think that is enough, I don’t have to say anything about it as well.”

“Yeeahh, you don’t. I’m fairly sure you’re no less scary should you want it, and I really don’t need any more scary and cute merpeople threatening me, thanks— wait what?”

Suzaku sighed as he realised he had just called the siblings cute out loud and felt the blush creep up on his cheeks. Lelouch’s amused huff and Nunnally’s suppressed laughed didn’t ease his embarrassment at all. 

He was just about to cover his face with his hands when he felt something wet touch his fingers and looked down at them. Nunnally had grabbed his hands and was now examining them carefully. For what reason though, that Suzaku didn’t know.

And when he felt Nunnally touch the worst-looking scar on his arm, he realised what had caught Nunnally’s attention. Suzaku rarely felt self-conscious about them, but now that he was in front of these two gorgeous beings, he couldn’t help but feel inferior to them.

“Your hands are quite scarred. What happened? Did this happen while you were on duty, or did someone go out of their way to hurt you?”, Nunnally asked when she finally stopped moving his hands around and looked up at Suzaku.

How would he explain this to someone he’d only recently met? How could he tell people that he didn’t really know — but he was sure he already cared too much about — that his father had been abusive, or that the racism in the Britannian army was worse than people wanted to believe, or even when they tried to understand, never realised it? He didn’t want to be a burden, he didn’t want to worry the two.

But, still, maybe the truth was the easiest way. He didn’t think he could lie to either one anyway because after all, they both seemed like they could immediately tell whether he was speaking the truth.

So, telling the truth it was.

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

“Yeah, that too.”

“Too?”

Lelouch finally spoke again. He was concerned. First Suzaku had stayed quiet for quite the while — too long for such a simple answer, especially considering Suzaku tended to answer within seconds — and then he had answered with a tone that was so full of pretentious cheerfulness that Lelouch didn’t know what to make of it.

“Well, I didn’t have the easiest childhood because my father wasn’t too happy about my existence, and well, life didn’t certainly get any easier after I joined the Britannian army. Despite everything they like to say, life often gets even more difficult there.”

Nunnally pulled Lelouch down to her level, which Lelouch immediately understood as a sign she wanted to tell him something. He tilted his head to the side so that she could easily reach his ear — after all, she clearly didn’t want to say her thoughts out loud.

“He sounds — and looks — like he could be the one Clovis always laughed about, telling how ‘some kid in the army got beaten up yet again’, and how Schneizel later mentioned that the soldier working in his unit got his hands cut by someone for fun and the soldier hadn’t even tried to fight back”, she whispered, her voice sorrowful and angry.

Lelouch’s eyes widened and he knew exactly why Nunnally was angry. He was, too. She was right, that’s exactly how it sounded like, and he couldn’t understand how he hadn’t made the connection before. He looked at Suzaku who seemed confused as to why they were suddenly ignoring him and whispering.

This human that had been so friendly ever since they met, that immediately apologised every time he realised he’s said something offending — or something that wasn’t offending but he thought could be—, this human had been hurt so much. Lelouch didn’t like it, no. He didn’t like it at all.

And how had he not realised it before himself?

Oh, how he  _ hated _ most of the humans, especially Britannians and their so important Royalty. As he had decided a long time ago, humans were only problematic and greedy, and so, so cruel to other human beings just because they weren’t the same as they were.

Not that he was much better than them, but since he would do anything for his sister who hated unnecessary cruelties, he wouldn’t hurt others as long as he could help it — no, he would save people and fight for peace. For the sake of his sister he would make the underwater world safe and sound for everyone that lived in their waters.

“What’s wrong?”, Suzaku asked, reminding Lelouch he was still not alone.

“Ah, nothing. Sorry. I suppose humans consider whispering in someone else’s company as rude.”

“Oh, that’s right. I apologise as well, Suzaku”, Nunnally said from Lelouch’s side and smiled.

“It’s okay. I get that you have your secrets as merpeople and I don’t want to be the reason you feel unsafe for yourself or… Exelica, was it?”, Suzaku said, smiling at them brightly. Indeed, his smile lit up his entire face (and Lelouch could feel some of his brightness shining to his world as well).

Lelouch was just glad Suzaku understood that even if what they had just discussed with Nunnally had nothing to do with it, and everything to do with Suzaku himself. Even so, it was probably for the better if Suzaku wasn’t aware of the subject of their conversation — it would create too many suspicions that Lelouch and Nunnally could neither deny nor confirm anyway.

“Thank you”, he said, settling for the simplest show of gratitude he could think of right now. He wished Suzaku would understand he was genuinely glad about his words, but then again, Suzaku hadn’t known him long, and most people couldn’t keep up with his train of thought easily. It was likelier that he couldn’t see it in his eyes or expression. Nunnally did (he knew it especially because she was chuckling at him as she looked at him and then Suzaku and then at him again), but well, she had always been one of the people who always understood him no matter what.

Nonetheless, Suzaku seemed to be on the same page as he was, or at least he was looking at it because a grin spread on his face as he looked at Lelouch. “No problem!”

“Big brother, it’s been quite long since we left Exelica, and we have a celebration to organise. I think we should start heading back before we find it turned into a school festival.”

Lelouch turned to look at his sister. She looked dead serious, and all he could think of was that she had left someone like Milly in charge of everything because of her words, and— well, he feared the worst.

“You left her in charge, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I left her in charge when I came here looking for you.”

A sigh escaped Lelouch’s lips. “Let’s go see if Exelica is still up and okay and not in flames since I fear the entire kingdom might just be on fire because of her and her stupid ideas.”

“How could an underwater kingdom catch on flames?”

“Suzaku, I know it sounds weird, but honestly, I wouldn’t even bat an eye, let alone be surprised considering it’s my friend left alone without any supervision we’re talking about”, Lelouch replied. Because really, he wouldn’t be surprised, the least to say. He had likely seen weirder happen wherever Milly went ever since he had met her a year and half ago.

“Sounds like someone I used to know”, Suzaku laughed right before the look in his eyes turned mournful. The look was soon gone, but even so, Lelouch knew he hadn’t imagined it. Something in his gut told him this someone Suzaku once knew was dead and they hadn’t simply gone separate ways in life.

He was just about to ask Suzaku about it when he recalled Milly’s words from maybe two weeks prior.

_ “Do I know him? Of course I do, we are friends! Well, were… before that happened. Anyway, what might you think of him, dearest Lelouch?” _

Yeah, because of those words, this someone Suzaku had mentioned sounded like it was also someone Lelouch and Nunnally knew (and dreaded, at least a little). Pressing the matter would require being unnecessarily dishonest, and Lelouch would rather not lie when he had the chance not to. That way people wouldn’t suspect his words as eagerly as they otherwise would in case he really needed to spoon feed other beings with lies.

And, in all honesty, Lelouch actually somewhat enjoyed not lying to Suzaku. He didn’t know why, but while they hadn’t known each other for more than two week’s time, he felt like they had known each other even before they even met nonetheless, possibly in another timeline. It was so easy and comfortable to talk with Suzaku that Lelouch could almost swear they had been dear friends in an alternate universe, if such things even existed to begin with.

Lelouch and Nunnally exchanged looks, both perfectly aware they should mention nothing of Milly to Suzaku, and, if possible, try to avoid even the topic itself.

“So, I guess this is goodbyes for now then. Lelouch, when do you have time to meet the next time? Lloyd and Cécile won’t let me out of work until six in the evening for the next week or so, and I can’t come before work, but maybe after? You too Nunnally, I’d love to meet you again. That is, if you’re okay with it as well”, Suzaku said, changing the topic before the mersiblings could.

“Yes, we need to fo back. How about you come here in three days? And go to shower before coming. I’d rather not have you smell like burnt bread and badly brewed coffee while you’re here. Neither has a pleasant scent.”

“Yeah yeah Lelouch, I got it, I’ll shower after work. Bye!”

Suzaku waved at them, but before he turned around, Nunnally waved back. “See you again, Suzaku!”, she said, a wide smile decorating her face.

“See you in a few days, Suzaku”, Lelouch said and felt the corners of his lips quirk slightly. Suzaku grinned (Lelouch suspected it was because he was smiling as well and Suzaku caught it) and left. Lelouch shook his head fondly. This human was fascinating indeed, and even more importantly, seemed trustworthy. Lelouch rarely described any human as ‘trustworthy’.

“You like him, don’t you?”, Nunnally asked Lelouch when Suzaku had disappeared from their sight. 

“I don’t—”

“No, not as a crush or anything. As a friend. You need more of those”, she corrected, immediately noticing what Lelouch thought she was asking.

Lelouch thought about it a while. “So I seem to do. I’m not yet sure whether it is the worst or the best decision of my life, though.”

“You want to trust him, am I right?”

“You are, but I fear for your and everyone else’s safety should any human come to know too much about us.”

“I think he’s someone we can trust. He was Milly’s friend, and she usually tends to choose great people as her friends, such as us, Shirley and Kallen.”

“That is true. She knows how to read people well.”

Lelouch dived underneath the waves and into the coldest parts of the ocean were Exelica was located at. He was kind of scared to see what had happened to it while they had been hone and Milly was left alone without a responsible supervisor. Lelouch and Nunnally knew for a fact Shirley and Rolo wouldn’t be able to stop her if she really put her mind to something and was determined to accomplish her goals, while Kallen couldn’t have cared less about anything that didn’t have something to do with her job in the guard. Oh well. Maybe they would survive.

After all, how could an underwater kingdom be set ablaze?

Lelouch didn’t even want to know whether Milly would be able to do it.

He was never going to give her the idea to attempt it. 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

Anya and Gino were watching television when they finally heard a key turning in the lock and only a second later the door was slammed open. Anya didn’t even look up from her phone and just yelled “welcome back” from her place on the sofa, but Gino stood up and went to greet Suzaku who had been gone for hours. Again. Anya had suggested Suzaku kept going to the ness they had dared him to go two weeks ago, but that was impossible, right? Suzaku had detested the idea when it had first been presented to him and when he finally did go, he was quite literally forced to.

And then he had almost drowned. God, Gino had been so scared he would never see Suzaku again. He did and he was glad about that, but drowning had nevertheless been far too close.

“Where were you? You missed today’s talent show!”, Gino yelled and threw his arm around Suzaku’s shoulders.

“Hmh? Oh, just watching the sea. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? So much kinder than most think at the first glance.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So, who got to the next round?”

“Sophie Wood and Miya Hillmick, as well as Marika and Kewell Soresi got to the next round, as did Nonette and Monica. Luciano lost.”

“He must be irritated.”

“He threatened to destroy the entire show along its host, Diethard. Bismarck had to be called to drag him away. Irritated is an understatement”, Anya deadpanned from the sofa.

Suzaku walked towards their bedroom, shoulders dropped. Suzaku who usually had the best posture out of the three of them had now a posture worse than Anya’s. It was concerning.

“Where are you going?”, Gino called after Suzaku but the Nipponjin didn’t even answer him. Goodness. What in the world was wrong with him?

“What’s wrong with him? He keeps running off and coming home late, has been every day for the past week. I’m worried about him”, Gino said, expressing his concern to Anya who was still playing a game or reading something.

“Well, he’s going to the ness, so you probably should worry. Maybe he thought he wanted to drown and now keeps thinking of a way to kill himself?”

“What the fuck? No way he’s trying to kill himself, he would have talked to us if he was thinking about something like that!”

“Unlikely. He’s selfless and would probably think he’d be a burden.”

“Maybe we should follow him if he keeps doing this? We need to find out what is wrong with him.”

“I don’t really care, but I’m in.”

And so they decided to follow Suzaku who was blissfully unaware of their plans if he went out without any explanations like this for more than three times again. They couldn’t let their friend die, let alone kill himself.

They couldn’t.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, if you have any questions about this AU and answering them won't force me to spoil anything, I'll happily answer all of them.
> 
> I also really appreciate all your comments, so please, do leave your thoughts of this fic to the comment section.


	4. Underwater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is fun and everything's going well. Suzaku is becoming better friends with Nunnally and Lelouch. It's great, at least aside from the slowly developing and growing not-so-platonic feelings. 
> 
> And then, then everything goes to hell. Of course. It's like life just really needs to fuck everything up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished this chapter? 
> 
> Have fun.
> 
> Also, happy birthday Suzaku! Love you a lot!

“Bye Ms. Cécile! I’ll be off now! See you next week!”

“Take care of yourself, Suzaku. Have a lovely weekend!” ****  
** **

It was finally weekend, which to Suzaku meant that he had the rest of the week off from work, and it was great.  ****  
** **

As much as he loved working in the A.S.E.E.C. (An Abnormal Special Evolved & Entertaining Cafe (Yes, the name made no sense, Suzaku was aware of that thank you very much, but Lloyd had named it so…)) with Lloyd and Ms. Cécile whom he considered his parental figures (they were better than his own father at parenting, at least, and neither of them were actually parents), it was nice to be finally out and spend some quality time with his friends. No, of course that didn’t mean he was going to go to the ness and try spending as much time with Lelouch as humanly possible. No way.  ****  
** **

It was warmer today than it had been lately otherwise, so Suzaku brought his swimming trunks and a towel with him. He kind of wanted to swim, and as he and Lelouch had earlier that week found a place with somewhat shallow waters, it was possible as well. As long as Suzaku didn’t do anything rash or stupid and Lelouch was there to watch over him and help him if something were to happen, there would be no real danger in it.  ****  
** **

Birds were chirping as he walked on the rocky paths surrounded by flowers. At some point, he decided being impulsive was a good idea and picked up some of the flowers that were blooming just about everywhere. They were mostly daisies, orchids, and dandelions, but it didn’t matter. The bouquet they created was kind of cute anyway. Maybe he would give it to Lelouch.  ****  
** **

When he reached the ness, Lelouch was already waiting, lying on the rocks. He turned around to see Suzaku and waved at him. Suzaku found himself grinning like an idiot because of that small gesture, but thankfully he was told he did it quite often. Lelouch wouldn’t probably notice or pay attention to it at all anymore.  ****  
** **

“Soooo, you know those moments when everything spirals out of control and it’s too late to stop it?”, he asked when he got to Lelouch. Suzaku hadn’t expected to get an answer, but he got one anyway (“No.”) so when he did, he was surprised. It didn’t disturb him enough not to continue, though. “Yeah, well, that’s what happened anyway. I hope you’re ready to help me eat these three dozen biscuits I accidentally made. Also, I brought you flowers.” ****  
** **

Lelouch took the bouquet Suzaku handed him and smiled. Yeah, so Suzaku’s heart may or may not have decided to melt at the sight. He loved seeing him smile. Then Lelouch turned his attention back to the biscuits.  ****  
** **

“How does one ‘accidentally’ end up making _three dozen_ biscuits?”

“Well, quiet work and boredom tend to do that to people.”

“They don’t.”

“They don’t?”

“They don’t.” ****  
** **

Suzaku sighed. “Damn it, I thought it was perfectly normal. Well, nonetheless, I brought biscuits and since I cannot eat them all alone, you gotta help me.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re friends and that’s what friends do, that’s why.” ****  
** **

He glanced at Lelouch to see how he reacted to his proclamation. It worried him when he saw Lelouch shake his head, but then he realised the corners of Lelouch’s lips quirked upwards and everything was alright again. Apparently, Lelouch only decided he was being as weird as he usually was, and that was perfectly fine with Suzaku.  ****  
** **

“Hey, mind if I join you lying on the ground? No? Great, move over”, Suzaku said and sat down next to Lelouch, waiting for him to make space for him.  ****  
** **

“I didn’t even give you the permission to do that”, Lelouch grumbled from his side but moved enough for Suzaku to comfortably lie down next to him anyway. Suzaku barked out a laugh and heard Lelouch groan, most likely because of him.  ****  
** **

Suzaku took the biscuits out of his bag and started eating them. “You want some?” ****  
** **

“I suppose I am not really given a choice here, so why not. What flavour?”, Lelouch asked and stretched his hand out.  ****  
** **

“They’re white chocolate lemon biscuits because we had leftover white chocolate at the cafe and I was craving anything and everything lemony. Hope you like them.”  He placed two biscuits on Lelouch’s outstretched hand and his hand brushed against Lelouch’s momentarily. It was warm and soft and seemed perfect for holding it. It sent a jolt down his spine, which was surprisingly nice. Suzaku decided he was going to take every opportunity to make it happen again if it were up to him from now on.  ****  
** **

Lelouch rolled around so that he was on his stomach and took one of the blue orchids in the bouquet. Then he came closer to Suzaku and turned Suzaku’s head, placing the flower behind his ear. His fingertips were hot on Suzaku’s cheek and chin, and while he relished in every second of it, he also hoped Lelouch would stop because he was not going to be able to handle it long anymore.  ****  
** **

“So, how have you been?”, Suzaku asked, still munching on his biscuit. He stole glances at Lelouch every now and then, not really thinking. Thankfully, Lelouch noticed none of them since he was back on watching the clouds. Probably.  ****  
** **

Yyeaahhh, maybe he did kind of like Lelouch as more than just a friend. He had tried to tell himself he didn’t, he really had, but in the end, he had had to come to terms with it. There was really nothing else to do either.

****

“Why, just organising Exelicain, which isn’t really enjoyable considering I need to make sure my friend doesn’t turn it all into a silly school festival with no point whenever Nunnally or I aren’t keeping an eye on her. It’s slowly getting bothersome and irritating. But, I have to admit it, as much as it frustrates me, it is also kind of amusing — not that I’m ever telling her that, though, she doesn’t need encouragement. She does it enough as it is. Aside from that, I’ve spent quite a lot of my free time — which doesn’t even exist — with you here, above the surface, away from my kingdom”, he chuckled. ****  
** **

“What do you mean ‘doesn’t exist’?” Suzaku gulped and found his heart pounding in his chest. Was Lelouch implying what he thought he was? Was he implying that he didn’t have any free time but purposefully made time for Suzaku so that they could meet anyway? Oh god. Hopefully, his cheeks weren’t gaining any red colour (which he suspected was happening since he could feel them heating on their own), and that if they were, Lelouch wouldn’t pay attention to it. Suzaku couldn’t take the embarrassment.  ****  
** **

“Yes, I don’t tend to have any free time, even less now with Exelicain coming up, but asI’ve said before, I find you fascinating. That’s enough of a reason to make it. Nunnally is fine with it as well, and as long as she says it’s alright, everyone else thinks so as well. Besides, it’s not like I’m spending every second of every day here so they wouldn’t care either way.” ****  
** **

Lelouch spoke his words in such a dismissive manner, as though what he was saying was nothing and didn’t matter at all, but, to Suzaku, it meant a lot. He was used to being the second choice up until he was dubbed the White Knight of the Rounds (or Britannia’s White Reaper as their enemies called him) and suddenly Britannia seemed to love him and began using him a whole lot more because of his skills. It wasn’t like they actually cared about _him_ anyway.  ****  
** **

And, he was usually still the second choice to individual people if he was being himself instead of the Knight of Seven. There was only a handful of people who cared about him as an individual, as _Kururugi Suzaku_ instead of someone else, and now there was this merperson whom he had known for maybe all of three weeks (that was, at the most) and who had a literal kingdom to take care of decided he was someone worth making time for? Yeah, it meant a lot to him.  ****  
** **

Suzaku just smiled and glanced at Lelouch. He was thankful he had met him even though not meeting Lelouch would have saved him from a lot of trouble — such as crushes on merpeople that would ever be only a daydream. Wait, no, he was definitely not crushing on Lel— Oh god, no, yes, yes he was. Suzaku seriously needed to stop trying to convince himself of lies, it helped no one.  ****  
** **

Then again, he would also be dead had he not met Lelouch because he would have come to the ness anyway, so maybe there were more pros than there were cons to it all. Besides, he was fairly sure that even if ever managed to tell Lelouch how he felt, Lelouch would let him down gently and wouldn’t just stop being his friend and talking to him. Such a thing didn’t seem like a very Lelouch thing to do.  ****  
** **

“Do you remember when we considered going swimming last time?”, Suzaku then asked, completely out of the blue. He sat up and looked straight at Lelouch’s eyes (though he definitely couldn’t be straight while looking at them). They were so beautiful and looked as though they were reflecting the purple of amethysts. Even the lines around his eyes contrasted it. Suzaku found himself captured in them, enchanted by them, and then he realised he had no intention of ever trying (or even wanting — especially wanting) to leave.  ****  
** **

Okay, so maybe he knew that falling in love with a merperson was a really bad idea no matter how he looked at it, and honestly he should try to stop before it was too late, but consider this, he was really good at not doing anything he should.  ****  
** **

And that’s why he was going to fall in love with the merperson anyway.  ****  
** **

“Yes, why?”

“Well, I was thinking, we could go swimming now? The ocean is calm — well, as calm as it can be — and I would anyway have you there as my guardian to save me should anything dangerous happen. Please?” ****  
** **

Suzaku really, really hoped he would say yes, or at least consider it. Had it been anyone else, Suzaku would have probably not cared about what they said about such thing, but Lelouch’s approval? Yeah, he cared about it. A lot.  ****  
** **

Yeah, he was definitely fucked. 

****

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

So, first of all, Lelouch never meant to develop a crush on anyone, let alone (and especially) a human.  ****  
** **

Technically, he wasn’t completely sure whether it was even a crush since he had never experienced what having a crush on someone meant before, but that’s all he thought was possible at this point because he was certain he wasn’t ‘in love’ with anyone. Because he wasn’t. There was no way such a thing was possible. But, what was possible, was that he had a crush on Suzaku since Lelouch was happy and comfortable around him, he liked seeing him smile, he made time for him more than he really should have and he enjoyed having the human boy around in a way that was different compared to how it was with his other friends.  ****  
** **

Besides, what spoke against being in love with him was that he had only known Suzaku for around three weeks. Falling in love with a stranger within that time right after meeting said stranger was highly unlikely. He did not believe in love at first sight. So no, he wasn’t in love with anyone, but crushing on someone was a whole different thing. He had been told multiple times in his life that it could happen quickly, based on nothing but one’s own imagination.  ****  
** **

And now that Suzaku was suggesting they went swimming, Lelouch liking the boy was not such a good thing. Sure, what Suzaku was suggesting was something they had discussed before and Lelouch knew that there indeed would be no real danger as he was there to watch over Suzaku and it wasn’t storming, but that didn’t really make it much better. Still, Lelouch found himself unable to tell Suzaku ‘no’.  ****  
** **

“Sure, if you want to, I don’t see why not. I just want you to listen to me if I tell you to do something.”

“Great! And yeah yeah, I will.” ****  
** **

Suzaku’s smile widened, reaching from one ear to the other, and Lelouch felt his heart flutter. Okay, so maybe he mostly agreed to it because he liked Suzaku’s smile and was well aware that letting him go swim would make him do that, but he still wasn’t at fault here. It was Suzaku and his stupid smile that should be blamed, if something.  ****  
** **

Lelouch watched as Suzaku ran towards the place they had found and then dived underwater to get there as well, preferably before Suzaku. That way he could immediately see if the boy fell down to the water. He would rather avoid any scares about Suzaku drowning as long as possible, and such a thing would happen should Suzaku fall from the cliffs without Lelouch’s supervision.  ****  
** **

Goodness, he had started to worry about Suzaku way too much for his own good. Seriously, his constant worrying about the ones he cared about was definitely going to be the reason his health bid him farewell one not-so-beautiful day.  ****  
** **

“Lelouch! Over here!”

“Please, whatever you do, do _not_ jump down from there. You’ll hit your head and die.”

“But, if that happened, you’d save me and my life again, wouldn’t you?”

“Not if you hit your head. I don’t have the medical equipment needed to treat a wound should that happen. And, you know, Nunnally would miss you if you died.”

“Nunnally, huh?”

“Yes, she would.”

“What about you, Lelouch? You wouldn’t miss me?”

“...Maybe I would, but only a little bit.” ****  
** **

Suzaku bent over laughing as Lelouch turned his gaze away before remembering he needed to watch over Suzaku. “You know, you could have just told me that right off the bat. There’s no need to hide behind Nunnally. Speaking of Nunnally, will she join us at some point?” ****  
** **

“She said she’d see if she could come, but that she wasn’t sure since she’s the one supervising how the organisations for Exelicain are going, and most of all the one supervising our friend.”

“The one you said could probably set your underwater kingdom on fire if she put her mind to it?”

“Yes, that one. Anyway, despite the fact she has to work even harder, Nunnally told me I needed to come here nonetheless. She told me I had to relax. As though I never do that.”

“Well, I don’t know you as well as your little sister does, but from what I’ve learnt about you up until now, I’d agree with her and say you really don’t relax as well.” ****  
** **

That comment earned Suzaku a glare, but he only grinned at Lelouch as he climbed down the cliff to the water. But, as Lelouch had suspected, as soon as his toes touched the water, Suzaku jerked his foot back and made a face. “Christ! It’s July, how can the water be so cold?!” ****  
** **

“It’d because the sea is rarely warm in July. How seldom do you go swimming in natural waters if you didn’t know this?”

“Very.”

“I can see that. I bet you can’t handle being fully in the water. Well, I suppose that’s safer if nothing else, maybe you shouldn’t come swimming at all.” ****  
** **

Lelouch knew full well what he was doing would only provoke Suzaku, but then again, that was his purpose. Suzaku should have known it was cold, and if he wanted to go swimming in the sea with a merperson of all the possible company he could have found, then he was going to get it. Lelouch was also aware that what he was saying would make Suzaku forget what Lelouch had just told him about jumping down and listening to him, so he dived underwater to check if there was anything Suzaku could hurt himself with if he hit them. Thankfully, there was nothing.  ****  
** **

“Watch me”, Suzaku said and jumped in the water.  ****  
** **

Lelouch simultaneously sighed and laughed as Suzaku all but screamed when he hit the water. He swam to Lelouch and clung onto him, seemingly trying to touch as little water as possible, which, as one can guess, didn’t work as he meant and instead pressed Lelouch deeper into the water. ****  
** **

“ _You should thank your luck I’m no human and I can breathe underwater_ ”, Lelouch hissed just a second before he was forced under the surface. Despite the fact he liked diving, he really did not enjoy being forced to do it. Still, he let Suzaku use him as support and waited for him to get used to the temperature. _God, the things he did for Suzaku._ Humans were irritating, and in this case, he most definitely counted Suzaku as one of them.  ****  
** **

And so he waited for a few minutes before Suzaku gave up and let go of him. When he did, Lelouch splashed water at Suzaku as revenge with his tail (which caused a relatively big wave hit Suzaku) and stretched. Goodness. He wasn’t expecting this would happen when he agreed to go swimming. If he had, he probably would have said it wasn’t going to happen.  ****  
** **

“Sorry, ‘Louch”, Suzaku said and rubbed his neck with a sheepish smile on his face. He seemed — and sounded — remorseful. Good. Maybe he wouldn’t do it again.  ****  
** **

“‘Louch?”

“Ah, sorry, I just like giving people nicknames. Do you not like it? I can stop.”

“It’s fine, I was just surprised.” 

“Sooo… What do you want to do?”

“Me? You were the one that begged me to let you swim here. You’re the one that needs to figure out what you want.”

“But I don’t know! I’d suggest a swimming race or “who holds their breath the longest” - contest, but you’re a merperson and I’d have no chance of winning unless you let me on purpose, which wouldn’t be fun.” ****  
** **

Lelouch sighed. “Why are you like this? Well, we could just _be_ here and relax as Nunnally told me to do, or we could go on that isle there—”, Lelouch pointed at the isle that was maybe a hundred or two metres away, “—and be there. If you like sunbathing, you could do that as well.” ****  
** **

“That sounds like fun, but how am I supposed to get there? I’m not sure I can swim that far in these waters as you’ve said they can be dangerous for someone who doesn't know them.”

“Yes, the currents are very strong and it wouldn’t be safe for you to go alone, but I can take you there. It’s not like they’re any danger to me, and I can help you keep your head above the water. Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah, that actually sounds really fun. Can I just leave my stuff here? Do people usually come here?”

“No, humans tend to avoid this area quite a lot — it’s one of the least dangerous places around this cliff, they’re so stupid — so I think no one will steal your clothes — or your phone if you have it with you. It’ll only take five minutes to get there, so if we’re quick, this whole things takes us from twenty minutes to an hour, depending on how long you want to be there.”

“That’s great! Can we go now?”

“Yes, if you so wish. Just, grab my shoulders and hang on. And please tell me if you can’t breathe by tapping me thrice with your fingers, okay?”

“Roger that.” ****  
** **

Lelouch turned his back on Suzaku and waited for him to do as he had told him. It was possibly the first time he actually turned his back on a human, including Suzaku, as it could be dangerous for him if someone tried anything funny. But, he trusted Suzaku, he wanted to trust Suzaku, so that’s what he did anyway. ****  
** **

He felt a tight grip on his shoulders and looked at Suzaku. Suzaku smiled at him and nodded, unaware of Lelouch still hesitating a little about letting him be at his back. Even so, Lelouch started swimming and let Suzaku hang onto his shoulders.  ****  
** **

“Wow, you’re really fast, faster than anything I’ve seen go in water ever before”, Suzaku said, awestruck. Lelouch could feel him move on his back, possibly trying to get a better position.  ****  
** **

“Merpeople tend to be fast”, he stated, as though it was the most simple thing in the entire world. To him, it really was, but to Suzaku, probably not. After all, he had never seen Lelouch or Nunnally swim longer distances, so it was understandable.  ****  
** **

“That’s so cool!” ****  
** **

He glanced at Suzaku and smiled. Yeah, despite the fact he was inclined to dislike humans, he was determined to keep this one close and not let go if he could help it. This one he liked.  ****  
** **

The next few minutes were spent in silence as Lelouch tried to focus on swimming with someone hanging onto him and Suzaku kept admiring the scenery — or that’s what Lelouch guessed he was doing since he felt Suzaku shifting on his back and his hair tickling his upper back every now and then. But, as it didn’t bother him, he didn’t say anything. If he was being honest, he kind of enjoyed being this close to Suzaku. But only _kind of._

“It’s so beautiful!”, Suzaku exclaimed as they arrived, finally letting go of Lelouch. He walked the few metres that were left to the beach and all but fell down on his butt on the sand. “Aah, this is nice.” ****  
** **

“I’m glad you like it”, Lelouch replied as he helped himself on the big rock that was in the shallow water. “This was once one of my favourite places. I just haven’t had time to come here lately.” ****  
** **

“I can see why you like it. I wish I could come here more often as well, but I can’t swim here myself and I don’t have any other means I could use either. At least I have time. Well, that’s fine, I’m just glad you took me here today.”

“Oh, so here you are.” ****  
** **

A new voice interrupted them, and Lelouch turned to see who it was. His dear little sister was smiling as she brushed strands of hair off her face.  ****  
** **

“I tried to find you from your usual spot, but I couldn’t find you. Also, isn’t it your birthday, Suzaku?”

“Yeah, it is. I forgot about it for a while myself. How did you know?”

“Oh, you just mentioned it a while ago.”

“A while, like two weeks ago in passing?”

“Yes. Anyway, I got you a present, I hope you like it”, Nunnally said happily and swam as close to Suzaku as he could. Suzaku came towards her the last metre himself and kneeled down next to her.  ****  
** **

Nunnally took Suzaku’s hand and placed something on it before pressing his fingers over it. Lelouch of course already knew what it was as Nunnally had asked Lelouch if he liked it, and whether he thought Suzaku would like it as well.  ****  
** **

Suzaku picked up the small gift and let it hang on his fingers. It was a small pendant decorated with a small emerald with a thin silver chain.  ****  
** **

“Thank you, Nunnally! Are you sure you want to give this to me?”

“Of course! I think it would look good on you. Try it on!” ****  
** **

It took Suzaku a few minutes to be able to do so as he struggled with the pendant’s lock for quite the while but managed to get it on in the end anyway.  ****  
** **

“It’s great. I knew silver and green would fit you. Do you like it?”

“Definitely. Thank you so much.”

“It was nothing.” ****  
** **

Nunnally smiled brightly and gave a light peck on Suzaku’s cheek. Suzaku was taken aback, but Nunnally simply ignored it as she turned her attention back to the fact they were on the isle instead of their usual spot. ****  
** **

“Anyway, I’m actually kind of surprised to find you here, I didn’t think you’d take him here.” The last bit was addressed to Lelouch who wanted to groan, partly because he was embarrassed and knew his sister was tempted to say something that Lelouch would rather not say.  ****  
** **

“Why are you surprised?” Goodness, Suzaku just had to ask that. Lelouch was sure Nunnally _was_ going to say whatever was on her mind now. There was no way to avoid this now. It was perfectly clear with the jot of mischief glinting in her eyes.  ****  
** **

“Well, first of all, he doesn’t really like sharing things like this, places where he feels at peace, and secondly, he’s kind of not very athletic, so it’s funny he suggested coming here in the first place. It’s clear he was the one to take you here, seeing as it’s unlikely you would have survived coming here alive were you all on your own, Suzaku”, she laughed and watched as Lelouch buried his face in his hands and groaned.  ****  
** **

“Really? You didn’t have to, Lelouch, also I’m touched you’d do that, and also you really, really didn’t need to do that and—”, Suzaku went off with his rambling until Lelouch cut him off.  ****  
** **

“It’s fine. I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions, and this was what I decided to do. Consider it your birthday present.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you again.”

“Stop that.” ****  
** **

Lelouch looked at her little sister whose smile had the ghost of a smirk present in it. He caught her eyes as she looked at him with a gaze that immediately told him she knew there was a (strong) chance he might _possibly_ have got a _tiny_ crush on the human boy. God. But, she was amazing and knew perfectly well such things weren’t something to express out loud. She had told Suzaku about the other things because she knew she could tease Lelouch with it and that he wouldn’t get offended at all. Just embarrassed.  ****  
** **

“Hey, Suzaku, how come you always seem to have so much time in your hands? Aren’t you one of the Rounds? I thought they’d have a lot to do just about all the time”, Nunnally asked after she finally managed to suppress and kill off the smirk on her face.  ****  
** **

Lelouch was, in fact, curious as well, he had thought about it earlier but then decided against asking, and then he had forgotten. It was indeed strange that he could come to spend so much time with them when he was one of the Rounds.  ****  
** **

“Well, that’s… King Odysseus and Prime Minister Schneizel disbanded the Rounds a while ago, maybe a year or so. Most of us still live in the capital, though, just in case we’re ever needed.”

“They did _what_ ?! I knew Odysseus was never much more than a puppet, incapable of expressing his opinions, but that Schneizel—” Lelouch nearly spat out the name, “—would actually go through with such a thing… He’s supposed to be the smart one out of all of the remaining living royal family.” ****  
** **

“That is indeed odd… Do you know if there’s any particular reason for them to do so? Money? Or perhaps incapacity to handle them? A grudge? Actually, no, it’s probably not the last one, I’m not aware of any such thing. Odysseus is just physically incapable of holding a grudge, and Schneizel loves power too much to get rid of one of the greatest symbols of power Britannia holds”, Nunnally days absentmindedly.  ****  
** **

“You… Might be right about that, he seems to be like that. I think it has something to do with the fact Britannia started losing its lands fast after Odysseus was crowned the king, and since they weren’t able to rule the country even with what they had, they were scared we’d do something, like overthrow them. How do you know so much about what they’re like?” ****  
** **

Lelouch glanced at Nunnally and met her eyes looking at him. So, they had the exact same question in mind.  ****  
** **

Oh dear, how were they gonna explain this so that Suzaku would let it be?

****

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

“We have our ways.” ****  
** **

That explanation again. It told him absolutely nothing and only added to the growing list of things as to why he thought they were keeping something he should probably know from him. Suzaku didn’t like it, but, like all the other times, he decided he wanted to trust them and let them keep their secrets from him. Again.  ****  
** **

“Okay?” His reply came off more as a question than a statement, and he saw Nunnally let out a breath of relief while the density in Lelouch’s shoulders seemed to gradually disappear as he realised he wasn’t going to question them more about it.  ****  
** **

“Well, I think we should start heading back in case someone misses you and tries to contact you. It’s no good if they know you tend to come to the ness and suddenly you’re gone, no one is able to contact you and they find your stuff there. Is that okay with you?”, Lelouch asked. Suzaku nodded, realising that he was right, it was better to get going.  ****  
** **

And so Suzaku once again hung onto Lelouch’s shoulders, and he enjoyed it more than he liked to admit. He smiled a little as he was able to be so close to Lelouch, and then he felt eyes burning on his back. Suzaku glanced back and saw Nunnally glaring at him, and he got the feeling she knew exactly how he felt about her big brother. She made the gesture for “I am watching you” with her fingers, and Suzaku found himself wishing to all the existing gods that she wouldn’t tell Lelouch and ruin their friendship (even though he was sure Lelouch wouldn't cut off ties for something Suzaku couldn’t control). Yeah, indeed, although she was adorable and seemed like a perfect little angel, she was far from one and could definitely be scary when she wanted to.  ****  
** **

God, did he wish he would never manage to piss her off.  ****  
** **

It didn’t take them long to get to the other side this time either, although it felt longer as Suzaku was a bit too aware of the eyes he had on his back.  ****  
** **

“Thank you so much for showing me the place, ‘Louch!”, Suzaku said happily. He kind of wanted to give him a kiss (either on the cheek or— nope, he was not going to entertain that thought) but held himself back as he knew that wasn’t appropriate. There were many problems with doing it, but the main two were that it would be rude towards Lelouch and a very, very bad thing to do to someone without asking for permission if they weren’t dating (and even then only if the other said it was okay), and that if he did so, he wouldn’t be surprised if Nunnally just outright murdered him then and there.  ****  
** **

“No problem. Hey, do you still have those biscuits?”

“Yeah, a few, why? Do you want some? Oh, Nunnally, do you want biscuits?” ****  
** **

Nunnally’s eyes brightened as a smile spread on her lips. “Biscuits? I’d love to have some! I haven’t eaten them in ages.” ****  
** **

Suzaku handed her two biscuits, and she all but devoured them. Nunnally licked her lips and fingertips to get the last of the grumbles. “Ah, so delicious. Did you bake them?” ****  
** **

“I did. I’m glad you liked them”, he smiled back, and then he heard his phone ring.  ****  
** **

Suzaku looked through his bag to find it and answered it when he saw that it was Gino that called him. He also saw the notification of three missed calls glaring at him. ****  
** **

“Hey, Gino, what’s up?”

“ _Where the fuck are you_? This is the fourth time I’m calling you!”

“You sound awfully worried. What’s wrong? Are you okay? How about Anya?”

“ _We’re okay, that’s not it. It’s Princess Euphemia we’re concerned about._ ”

“How is she?”

“ _That’s the problem. We don’t know. She was sailing today, and now no one can find her or contact her. We’re scared her ship sank._ ”

“What?!”

“ _Seriously, where the fuck are you? We need every Round to search for her. Please don’t tell me you’re at the ness again. I don’t want to be scared that anyone else important to me has drowned.”_

“I’ll be back shortly, I promise. I’ll just gather my stuff and I’ll be there.”

“ _You better be._ ” ****  
** **

Suzaku heard a beep as Gino hung up and realised that Anya was bombing him with messages and that she'd been doing that for quite a while.  ****  
** **

 

_Where are you??? (6.22 pm)_

_Princess Euphemia is gone (6.23 pm)_

_Please message me back as soon as you can (6.27 pm)_

_Suzaku?? (6.34 pm)_

_Are you alright? (6.39 pm)_

_She’s still lost (6.43 pm)_

_Disappeared (6.43 pm)_

_Vanished into thin air (6.44 pm)_

_No one has any idea where she is, her ship is gone (6.44 pm)_

_I’m scared she drowned (6.44 pm)_

_Just like her brother and sister two years ago (6.45 pm)_

_We can’t lose any other royals anymore (6.45 pm)_

_We’ve already lost four, the entire vi Britannia family and the previous emperor (6.45 pm)_

_Princess Cornelia locked herself in her room and refuses to come out (6.45 pm)_

_Okay, now she came out and ordered every soldier and knight she could find to search for her (6.46 pm)_

_Are you okay?? (6.46 pm)_

_I can’t lose any more friends (6.46 pm)_

_If we can’t find Princess Euphemia, I’ve lost three (6.46 pm)_

_If you’re dead as well, I’ve lost four (6.46 pm)_

_I’m okay anya dont worry don’t woryr (6.47 pm)_

_I promsie ill be there shortly (6.47 pm)_

_Gino already rold me what happendd so i’ll join you as son as i can (6.48 pm)_

_You better (6.48 pm)_

_Prime Minister Schneizel thinks she’s dead and he's considering giving up on searching for her with Kanon (6.48 pm)_

_But Princess Cornelia is pushing for them to continue (6.49 pm)_

_His Majesty says that they at the very least have to find her body so that she can be given an appropriate and royal funeral and burial (6.49 pm)_

_Every thing will be fine (6.50 pm)_

_I’m sure (6.50 pm)_ ****  
** **

 

“I’m sorry, I have to leave. Princess Euphemia is lost. They said she was sailing, so could you possibly look for her as well? Of course, if it’s dangerous for you, you don’t need to. But, if you could look somewhere where it’s unlikely they’ll think of searching from, I would appreciate it and be very grateful to you. She has long pink hair and probably a pink dress, so if you see her, could you bring her here? Even if she’s dead. We could give her a proper funeral, at least. Please, we can’t lose any more of our Royals”, Suzaku said as he was trying to put on his shirt as fast as he could. He was scared and worried about Euphie. He had started hyperventilating a while ago, too.  ****  
** **

“Euphie’s gone? Of course, we’ll look for her. I promise. We’ll come back here in a few hours and at the very least report what we know”, Nunnally said and took Suzaku’s hands in her own. “I promise. Try to breathe.”

“Thank you so much, Nunnally. I really appreciate it. I have to go now.” ****  
** **

And with that, he left. He didn’t see the quick tear rolling down Nunnally’s cheek, nor the frown on Lelouch’s face. 

He needed to get to Gino and Anya as soon as possible.  ****  
** **

They searched for hours. ****  
** **

They weren’t able to find anything.  ****  
** **

Not until they found the ship, but even then they found no trace of Euphie.  ****  
** **

She was still gone.

But, maybe Lelouch and Nunnally had found her and saved her?  ****  
** **

Maybe everything was going to turn alright. ****  
** **

Spoiler alert, nothing was turning alright because when Suzaku got — after four frustrating and fruitless hours — back to the shore, he saw Lelouch and Nunnally there — with no body. Literally, since there was not even a corpse to be seen. Suzaku walked to his merfriends.  ****  
** **

“Did you… Did you find anything?”, he asked, already aware of the answer. He just needed to hear it from them. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was on some isle because it had been quicker for Lelouch and Nunnally to get her there. ****  
** **

“I’m sorry, Suzaku, but we could find nothing. We found a ship we suspected was the one she used quite fast, but there was no one inside, not anyone alive or dead. We checked every place we could find there”, Nunnally said and stretched her hand out to him, probably to take his hand. Suzaku complied and sat down, and as he had suspected, she did grab his hand and hold it.  ****  
** **

“So that explains why the doors were broken down.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but we needed to see if someone had locked themselves inside and couldn’t get out.”

“It’s alright.” ****  
** **

Lelouch swam closer to Suzaku. “We then looked everywhere near the ship until we heard someone coming and went to explore other places. No trace of anyone. I’m sorry we have to be the bearers of the sad news.”

“It’s… It’s alright. Kind of. I suppose. Thanks for looking anyway.” ****  
** **

Suzaku’s sight blurred as hot tears started flowing from his eyes and down his cheeks. He buried his face in his hands and let out a sob.  ****  
** **

“She… She was so sweet… And now she’s— she’s dead. We’ve lost five royals within three years. It’s… It’s far too much”, Suzaku cried as someone (he supposed it was Nunnally) stroked his arm. Then a pair of arms hesitantly took hold of him and pulled him to a warm embrace. Suzaku wrapped his arms around the merperson (he wasn’t even sure which one of them it was) and cried to their shoulder.  ****  
** **

“Shhh. It will be alright. It wasn’t your fault, Suzaku. You weren’t the one who caused her death. Cry it out, it will help. Just don’t bottle up your feelings, it will help absolutely no one, especially not you”, Lelouch whispered into his ear, and then Suzaku realised it was Lelouch in whose embrace he was.  ****  
** **

“Thank you, ‘Louch”, he murmured.  ****  
** **

He really wished he could believe Lelouch.

****

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

“You know, Anya, he’s been acting weird lately. Running off to this gloomy place at any given opportunity. What does he hope to see here?”, Gino asked as he walked beside Anya. Anya couldn’t have cared less about Gino’s rambling right now, because she was worried for Suzaku. She couldn’t lose him.  ****  
** **

“I wouldn’t know. He never tells us. All I can think of is that he came here now so he could jump off a cliff and die just like Princess Euphemia did.”

“And that’s why we're here now, to drag him back and make sure he doesn’t try anything funny, especially something like committing suicide.”

“He did want to die at some point.”

“All the more reason for our worries.” ****  
** **

The rest of the walk was quiet, what with Anya texting Suzaku again. Her fingers tapped the screen so fast that she was sure Gino would see that she was growing all the more anxious by every passing minute they couldn’t find Suzaku. He wasn’t answering any of her texts. He didn't even see them. ****  
** **

When they finally got to the end of the cliff, Anya saw a small cloud of brown curls and let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding — but then she noted that there was also a flow of long, sand brown curls, as well as someone with black hair. Suzaku was with other people. She wanted to see who these people were and was just about to tell Gino not to yell, but she was a second too late. ****  
** **

“Oi, Suzaku, there you are!”, Gino shouted before abruptly stopping. She supposed he had realised there were more people as well — hey, were those tails she could see glistening immediately below the surface? A pink and a purple tail were indeed there, belonging to these two strangers. Mermaids?  ****  
** **

But, the very next second she saw a splash of water and the tails were gone. Anya would have said she saw wrong until she realised that Gino’s mouth was hanging open and she heard him mutter “mermaids?” from under his breath. ****  
** **

Suzaku turned around, saw them and then stomped over to the two of them. “What are you doing here? I think I told you I wanted to be alone, didn’t I?”, he hissed and folded his arms.  ****  
** **

“Were those mermaids?”, Gino asked, completely ignoring what Suzaku had just said.

“No, of course not. Merpeople don’t exist”, he answered and walked past them, shoulders tense.  ****  
** **

“But I’m sure I saw mermaid tails just now.”

“Merpeople do not exist. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Gino, let it go. He isn’t going to talk and he’s angry. It’s pointless”, Anya deadpanned. She too wanted to know, wanted Suzaku to explain what she had just seen, but she also wanted to respect Suzaku’s boundaries. He always respected hers, and they had already crossed one of his. It was her turn to remind Gino of their importance. She didn’t want to lose Suzaku, and him cutting ties with them because he felt like they didn’t respect his boundaries in the least counted as losing him — and honestly, Suzaku doing so was not something they shouldn’t take into account what with Suzaku’s quick temper and stubbornness. Even if he did it and then regretted it, he wouldn’t let go of the grudge all so easily, nor would he admit he had acted too quickly. ****  
** **

“Fine.” ****  
** **

But, even so, she promised herself that she would keep an eye on Suzaku. She wouldn’t follow him, but when he was home, she would try to see if any signs of suicidalness would come up — that, or the fact that he had said merpeople when Gino had clearly talked about mermaids. There was something wrong with it, and she was going to find out what it was.  ****  
** **

First, they all needed sleep. It had been a long and tiresome day. 

****

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

“So, you didn’t tell him after all, even though you said you were considering it, big brother?”

“I couldn’t. I had to keep it hidden, for your and everyone else’s sake.”

“He might find out one day, and then he’ll be mad at you for keeping it a secret. I know you’ve seen it. He dislikes being kept in the dark almost as much as I do, and I absolutely despise it because I lost so much because of it.”

“I know. And then he’ll be angry. He’s allowed that. I’m fine if he ends up so furious he decides to punch me or something. I’ll let him. Hopefully, he’ll also forgive me.”

“I hope so because I’m not letting you two meet if he doesn’t and I will also be the one to tell him to get lost if he ever comes back. You just did what was best for all of them. I can read people well, but I can’t figure out how well he forgives people.”

“That’s fine. Let’s go, Nunnally. Our kingdom needs us.”

“You’re right. Also, I recommend not mentioning Suzaku around Milly for a while, or she’ll figure out your crush immediately.”

“Wha—?”

“Hehe. You’re kind of obvious about it.”

“Hmph.”

“Sorry, I’m just teasing you.”

“It’s alright. It’s sound advice anyway. I love you, Nunnally.”

“I love you too, big brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope you liked this chapter? 
> 
> As always, if you have any questions about this AU, do ask them in the comments. I'll happily answer them as long as they won't be spoilers for the story. 
> 
> Also, seriously, I understand that people tend not to comment because they either forget or because they are anxious about it — I'm guilty of often forgetting to comment as well, but not getting any feedback on your work tends to discourage most writers, me as well. That's partly the reason writing this took so long. I will definitely write this whole story out since I want to get it out my head, but yeah. Kudos are nice as well, but they don't tell what people actually think of the story.
> 
> Anyways, see you next time!


	5. Out of the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's always a bad idea to let your friends meet your other friends, but Suzaku does it anyway. Is there something Lelouch hasn't told him that he has to find out now because Lelouch and Nunnally don't really have a choice? 
> 
> Also, crushes suck and both Lelouch and Suzaku are far too aware of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look it took me less than a month to write and edit a new chapter. Could have gone worse. Could have also gone better. 
> 
> This chapter is a little shorter than the others have been, I think (although, it is still 5,7k long, so it's not like it's actually short).
> 
> Oh, and as some of you might have noticed, I made this into a series. This happened when I realised there were small drabbles I wanted to write about this AU and I decided to include them in it as well because of that. Drabbles such as entire scenes I had to delete because they didn't fit in the main fic (this one) itself. That said, there will not be sequels like there are to NTFFY because reasons.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, well, whatever it is.

Suzaku couldn’t honestly remember the last time he had been so… so _nervous._

Sure, he had faced death more times than he could count, and sure, he had had to help one of the royals (hint, it was Euphie) to pick an outfit for a very, very important event because all their servants had been God knows where at the time and he happened to be close, and _sure_ , he had been a Nipponjin in the midst of many, many racist and violent Britannians when he first joined the Britannian army, but this? This was far worse. He wasn’t even sure why, but it was.

“Where the hell are you taking us anyway? You said nothing except that you weren’t going to kill us when you practically gave us no choice”, Gino said behind him as Suzaku was leading them towards the ness he had possibly spent a little too much time at in the past few weeks.

Yeah, that was exactly the problem. That was what was making him press his fingernails to the palm of his hands, knowing if he did it too long and too hard, his palm would soon be stinging. Suzaku tried to focus on the memory of his friends saying it was okay with them. 

“You know, just a little picnic in the beautiful nature?” It wasn’t a lie, to be exact. He had brought food and a picnic blanket with him, planning on feeding his friends. 

“That doesn’t answer my question at all.”

“It doesn't matter, you’ll see soon enough anyway.”

Somehow, that made Gino shut up. Suzaku wasn’t sure whether it was because they had already went through this very same argument about seven times in the past ten or so minutes. Even Gino would have to get tired of it at some point, right? (Probably not, it was Gino after all.)

Yeah, indeed, he was taking Gino and Anya to meet Lelouch and Nunnally. He didn’t want to lie to first mentioned what he was doing at the ness where he had absolutely refused to go only some time ago, although he knew he would have continued doing so until the end of time if Lelouch and Nunnally so wished. 

Thankfully, it had only taken him three continuous hours of negotiations and light arguments before Lelouch and Nunnally had given in and told him it was okay. 

…

Okay so maybe it was more like Suzaku had sworn he wasn’t going to make a habit of this and that his human friends wouldn’t tell a soul about his merfriends. That, and that he would personally take responsibility if they did end up telling, and that he would do anything the mersibligs told him to do in order to minimize the damage on land — even if it meant stealing a life or… well, more. 

But yeah, Suzaku was certain it would never get to that point. After all, he trusted his friends enough to be sure they wouldn’t tell. Suzaku wouldn’t let them. He was going to protect his merfriends with all he got if it was his fault their lives were in danger. Even so…

Suzaku stopped and turned around to be able to look at his friends. “So, before we get there, I want you two to promise you’ll tell absolutely no one about whatever you might see or hear there. I’m serious about it. If you can’t trust yourselves to do so, you can still leave. And, if you choose to stay and tell someone, I will not answer for my actions. Okay?”

Anya looked up from her phone for the first time in a while. “Yeah, sure.”

“It also means you have to put your phone away and not record anything. Not videos, not voice. Nothing.”

“I’m fine with that. Can we go now?”

Gino remained suspicious (Suzaku didn’t blame him though, he _knew_ he was acting suspicious) and arched his eyebrow. “That doesn't really sound like a simple picnic. What in the world can it be if you have to make us promise not to tell anyone?”

“If you don’t want to promise, I said you could also leave. You know perfectly well how to get back home from here.”

“I’m not leaving, you’re acting too suspicious.” Suzaku knew it, he didn’t need to be reminded of it, thank you very much. “There’s no way I’m going to leave you two alone here.”

“So, you promise?”

Gino sighed, defeated. He let his shoulders drop before he turned his gaze from the ground back to Suzaku. “Yeah, I promise. I suppose you won’t be taking us anywhere too bad. After all, you’re my friend, I suppose I should trust your judgement that much.”

Suzaku smiled, albeit hesitantly. “Thanks. Now, let’s continue.”

They walked the last hundred or so metres in silence, Suzaku way too aware of Gino’s calculating eyes on his back. It would be fine, he reminded himself, this way he could finally stop lying to Gino and Anya even though he would have kept it on forever should Nunnally and Lelouch have told him to do so. After all, he would never deliberately endanger his friends. Any of them. 

“So, eh, do you mind standing here for a while? I’ll come back to you in a moment, I swear”, Suzaku said, quickly looking over his shoulder to be able to see his friends’ expressions. 

“No.”

“I don’t care what Anya says, I still mind, but I suppose I don’t really have a choice here, now do I?”

“No, you don’t.”

It wasn’t, to Suzaku’s surprise, him who replied to Gino. He was about to, but Anya beat him to it. She had a tight grip of Gino’s clothes and seemed to be holding him back in case he ended up not doing as Suzaku said. Suzaku mouthed his thanks to the girl, appreciating what she did, and walked off. He wanted to first find Nunnally and Lelouch before he brought the other two there. Just in case. 

“Oh, there you are. We were wondering if you were going to come at all”, Nunnally’s bright voice greeted him the second he saw them. Suzaku couldn’t even open his mouth before she spoke again. “Where are your friends?”

“Oh, I left them waiting there behind the rocks so I could first check up on you and make sure you were still okay with this all. You are, right? It’s alright if I invite them over now?”

“Yes, yes, it’s alright”, Lelouch replied and tapped the rock he was leaning to with his fingers. 

“Okay. I’ll be back right away.”

Suzaku went back to where his friends were still waiting for him, quietly chatting. “Well then, follow me. I’m probably not going to drown you or anything so don’t worry”, he laughed and went back without even checking if the two were following him. He only barely caught Gino’s questioning voice saying “probably?” to Anya. Suzaku guessed Anya would merely shrug at him, not really caring. 

He sat on the rocks near Lelouch and Nunnally, making sure he was between them and Gino and Anya. He was worried to some extent, and that was partly why he positioned himself between them, as though acting as a shield of sorts. 

“Sooooo…. These two are the reason I come here so often. Lelouch was actually the one to save me when I fell down to the water and almost drowned a few weeks ago. Then some time later I met Nunnally as well, and—”

“Aren’t you two supposed to be dead?”

The question that interrupted Suzaku completely and brought him to a stop were directed at Nunnally and Lelouch. It took Suzaku a few seconds too many to realise it was Gino who had asked it, and only then did Suzaku think of taking a look at the faces of his friends. 

Gino was shell-shocked, his mouth hanging open. Anya was simply staring at the mersiblings with the most disbelieving expression on her face (Suzaku couldn’t remember the last time her expression was so clear), and both Lelouch and Nunnally let out a simultaneous, exasperated sigh. 

“I should have guessed that your friends would be Rounds. If I had realised, I would have never said yes. God. This created a bigger mess than I ever thought it could”, Lelouch said, but didn’t move anywhere. 

“Big brother, don’t blame yourself. It’s not like we knew, and Suzaku didn’t know we would have not wanted to meet the Knights of Six and Three, even if Anya was our friend. We couldn’t have told him the reason anyway. No one’s to blame”, Nunnally said, comforting Lelouch who was massaging his forehead, as though he was trying to get rid of a headache. Suzaku had absolutely no idea what was going on. 

“What?”

He had so many questions. 

  


❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

  


_Well, that went just about a million times worse than Lelouch thought._

“Well, Sir Weinberg, mind telling Suzaku why you just said what you did?”, Nunnally asked, and Lelouch immediately recognised it as the voice she used when addressing important matters in Exelica, or… the one she had used when addressing the knights back in the palace. 

Sir Weinberg was taken aback. The way Nunnally spoke to him likely confirmed their identities and cleared him and Anya of all their suspicions. But, he cleared his throat and took a better posture when he finally replied. “As you wish, Your Highness. So, Suzaku, you remember how we’ve mentioned the vi Britannia siblings who drowned around two years ago a few times, especially in the past days?”

“Yes…?”

“Well, apparently you’re the first one to find out what truly happened to them. Suzaku, meet Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and Princess Nunnally vi Britannia, these two mermaids here that you’ve befriended.”

“Sir Weinberg, learn what terms to use when addressing non-humans, especially when they are the dangerous ones should they be angered”, Lelouch said calmly and looked Gino dead in the eye.

“Oh, so that is why Suzaku specifically said that _merpeople_ didn’t exist even though Gino and I spoke of mermaids… You are merpeople, am I correct?”, Anya asked, finally opening her mouth. Nunnally smiled brightly at her. 

“Yes, merpeople would indeed be the correct term, sir Alstreim. How are our siblings? Cornelia must still be grieving as there’s no one to get her revenge on. Please, tell me she hasn’t locked herself in her room, though”, Nunnally said, extending her arm towards Anya, intending for the girl to grab her hand. Anya took it without hesitation and stepped down to the lower rocks so that she could be closer to Nunnally’s level. 

“They’re all grief-stricken, although as is expected, Princess Cornelia is taking it the hardest. The one taking Princess Euphemia’s death the best is probably Princess Carine. How about you? Can you swim properly? Is your sight better now?”

“Well, Carine never did like me or Euphie very well, saying we were too naive and kind, and that it made us weak, so I’m not surprised. And I am well, thanks for asking. I can swim perfectly well — I’m faster than big brother, actually, just like when we were children and ran around the palace — and I can’t remember the last time I saw everything so vividly. So, everything is much better than it was back then.”

“How in the world are you taking this so calmly, Anya?! These are the supposed dead siblings we lost at the same time as the emperor, for fuck’s sake! They are _mermaids_!” Gino yelled nearly all of that, making Lelouch and Nunnally cover their ears. They had a really good hearing, especially Nunnally did, and yelling wasn’t very easy. Lelouch shook his head, disappointed in the way the knight was acting.

“Merpeople”, Anya corrected, and added before continuing her chat with Nunnally, “And it’s not like we can do anything about them being merpeople, so we might as well take it calmly.”

Lelouch was glad Nunnally got her friend back. She had missed Anya a lot, as had Lelouch, even if neither ever mentioned it — it was easier to go on if you pretended you didn’t miss your old friends, especially in the beginning. They were childhood friends, after all, and Anya was originally also supposed to become Nunnally’s knight. She probably would be her knight right now if the two of them still lived in the palace.

“Yes, yes, merpeople, that’s what I meant. How the fuck did this—” Gino gestured at Nunnally and Lelouch, “—even happen?! Oh fuck— I mean, I apologise for my language, Your Highnesses. Could you please forgive me?”

“You’re forgiven”, Lelouch said before turning his gaze at Suzaku. A fond and amused smile spread across his face as he realised how shocked the boy was. Lelouch took Suzaku’s hands in his own, finally alerting him out of his thoughts. “Wake up, earth calls.”

“Oh, sorry ‘Louch, I just—”

“Are you on a first name basis with a goddamn prince?”

Lelouch shot a pointed look at Gino.

“Language. Of course. I apologise.”

“Better. Nonetheless, Suzaku is my friend, why should he not be on a first name basis with me? My position in the court shouldn’t matter in the slightest to my friends when I am not there, especially if they aren’t even aware of it in the first place”, Lelouch said coolly, glaring at Gino who didn’t even look away to avoid it like most would. 

Lelouch had honestly almost completely forgotten how Gino was like in the presence of royalty. He might act aloof and such when he was with his friends, but the boy had gone through military training, killed people, and he once answered to the king and the king only for his actions. He was much more formal with royalty — the fact he had just cursed a lot in his and Nunnally’s presence, as well as yelled more than he should for no good reason was an exception, and even it was understandable. After all, he and Nunnally had been gone for two years, proclaimed dead, and so Lelouch understood that he was surprised about finding them again, and as merpeople of all possibilities.

“So, how did this happen? How did you become merpeople? And what actually happened on that day anyway? No one survived to tell the tale, except for, apparently, the two of you”, Anya asked. She had settled herself next to Nunnally and was holding her hand. 

Nunnally sighed. “I really dislike revisiting that day, even if it’s just memories I’m thinking about. But, considering how you two are here now and know we were humans once — and you knew us back then, too, so I suppose you deserve to hear the story.”

“Father was taking us to the EU. As you know, considering everyone died, it did not go as planned. There were assassins onboard who wanted father dead, and once we were in the middle of the sea where no one could help us, they attacked”, she explained and squeezed Anya’s hand a little bit tighter. Lelouch could see how Nunnally’s knuckles turned a shade whiter. It wasn’t easy to talk about it, Lelouch knew it well. It was hard — that day had been a real nightmare come true. 

They had been so utterly terrified, especially Nunnally who had been trembling and holding onto Lelouch like he was her lifeline (he was, but she had been his as well). She couldn’t run or even see, and the only thing she had been able to do was to listen to the screams of the dying and terrified crew, as well as the gunshots. 

Even now they refused to talk about it to anyone else — it was rare they talked about it even with each other, not aside from giving the explanation of “that day” if the memories became too much to handle. That’s why actually explaining was so awful — they would have to go through what they had to back then, through all of it.

“Everyone was screaming and begging for their lives except the two of us, who were hiding in my cabin. We needed to stay quiet, and if you didn’t know, it isn’t easy when you’re scared for your life — and your sibling’s life”, Lelouch continued, letting Nunnally take a break. He tucked a stray strand of hair back to its place off her hair before returning to the story. It was a comforting gesture, which he and Nunnally had been doing for as long as he could remember. It was subtle enough for them to disguise it as making sure the other looked perfect in the royal court — nevermind the fact Nunnally had been blind when they were in the court and everyone knew it — and then the habit stuck and became something they still did.

“So, when we realised it was far too quiet, we knew we had to get away. It wouldn’t have taken long for us to be found. There was no one to defend us anymore, and it was likely the assassins were still onboard, aware we were somewhere on the ship. Of course, that meant we needed to get out of the ship in the middle of the sea”, Lelouch said, taking a short break to breathe himself. He felt Suzaku’s hand finding his, and he started stroking his knuckles. Lelouch shot a small grateful smile at the human before he continued speaking. 

“We knew we were risking our lives doing it, fully aware that should we fail, we would drown. It was, frankly speaking, quite likely, but better to die in the sea than be at your assassin’s mercy, humiliated, probably tortured, and then killed no matter what you try. It wasn’t like we wouldn’t have died if we stayed, so we weren’t going to lose anything. That’s why we found a boat and got on it, trying to stay as quiet as possible while lowering it, but the assassins found us anyway.”

“We’re sorry that none of us were there and that we failed in checking if everyone was trustworthy, Your Highnesses. We failed to protect you—”, Gino began before Nunnally cut him off.

“That’s enough, we aren’t done”, she said and simply continued where Lelouch left off. “As big brother was saying, the assassins found us. They started pulling thee boat back onto the deck, so as any logical and terrified being would do, we jumped off into the water, me in big brother’s arms. Alas, the currents were too strong and we were pulled under the surface where we were unable to breathe. Neither of us let go of the other for the entire time, since we found each other like that later on. And, as one can guess, we drowned and died.”

“Sooo…. How did you become mermaids— I mean, merpeople?”, Gino asked. 

Nunnally and Lelouch shared a look that basically said ‘didn’t we make it obvious?’. Nonetheless, she swallowed her irritation and explained. “We drowned. If you die by drowning and are in the water the second you die, you become a merperson. It’s that simple. If you are found before you turn and taken out of the water, you will simply die and that’s all that happens. And, before you ask, if you were sick or physically disabled, you will get better and gain full use and mobility of your body again, which is why I’m no longer paralysed or blind. We don’t have anything equivalent to wheelchairs and such underwater anyway, so it’s just good.”

“So, Princess Euphemia has become a merperson as well?”, Suzaku asked, finding his voice again. He spoke for the first time in quite a while, still shocked that his friends were actually the lost prince and princess of the Royal Family, the ones he had spent hours searching for and the ones Euphie used to reminisce and tell him about. 

“Yes. She’s in our kingdom”, Lelouch sighed, immediately missing Suzaku’s touch when his hand retreated from stroking his. Not that he was going to ever admit to it, though. 

“Then… Why didn’t you tell me? Could you not trust me?”

“I did consider telling, but in the end Nunnally and I decided we couldn’t. I’m sorry, but that’s how our world works. It was for everyone’s safety.”

“But she’s alright?”

“She should be. She’s in a coma of sorts, but that’s normal. She’ll be fine.”

Suzaku sighed, although Lelouch was quite sure he could hear relief in his voice. “Okay. So you did find her, after all?”

“Yeah! I was really happy to see my sister again — even though she was completely out of it and it meant she had died and lost Cornelia. That’s not the happy part. It’d be exactly like losing big brother to me, and I hate even the mere thought of it ever happening”, Nunnally said, her usually so kind and bright smile faltering as she got to the end of her sentence. 

Lelouch turned to look at Anya and Gino. Sure, he was lower than the two of them since he was in water, which in turn ate his imago and authority a little, but what good would his education and training in the midst of the most judgemental people he knew if he couldn’t handle two knights despite that. “And remember, you two, that everything Nunnally and I have said here, everything you two saw here, it all stays here. You cannot tell anyone we’re alive, nor that we have Euphie and she’s alive. The three of us are as good as dead to the world. If we were to be found again, we all know we would only be used as tools — especially since it’s Schneizel that holds the reins behind the scenes. I know Odysseus mostly does what he’s told, he doesn't really have that much of his own opinions when it comes to running a country.”

His sigh didn’t escape the three humans present. “Besides, I don’t think you and Anya would enjoy dying so long before your time. I cannot let you endanger my kingdom and its citizens. I doubt Nunnally would either — after all, it is hers as much as it is mine.”

Gino’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Lelouch knew that royalty actually threatening the Knights of the Rounds — disbanded or not — was unheard of, and when it came from someone that belonged to the el Britannia or the vi Britannia house, the threats were no longer threats, they became promises, even if no one in the vi Britannia house was technically alive. 

“You do know what they said about us in the court, why they hoped neither of us would ever get to inherit the throne. Well, we have our own kingdom, their loyalty lies within us and those we trust, and we will not let anyone put our lives in danger”, Lelouch said and let a smile slip in his face. The context taken into account, he knew it went from polite into rather terrifying.

“ _‘If either of them ever inherits the throne, we’re doomed. The vi Britannia siblings are far too smart for their own good — genius, even —, and they would be capable of running the country on their own, only, they have their own set of morals. If they worked together, and I’m certain they would, I don’t think we’d end up well. You know, their mother didn’t come from the nobility, she was a commoner! They would give our rights to peasants!’_ , am I right?”, Anya asked, her expression indifferent. 

She seemed to have faith in them not to hurt her because she was still holding Nunnally’s hand. Lelouch was sure she was perfectly aware she could easily be dragged into the water and killed, just like all the old tales of merpeople told. It’s not like they were true, but humans seemed rather keen on believing them and not the word of the actual merpeople. 

Lelouch knew they could trust her as well — she had once been his friend as well and he would rather trust her, but he wasn’t so sure about Gino. The young knight was rash and did things impulsively, and besides, Lelouch didn’t really know him all that well. 

“So, you two are ruling together?”, Gino asked, seemingly trying to keep his cool. Not that he really succeeded. 

“Yes, and I will not let anyone bring harm upon my kingdom, unlike what your King and Prime Minister seem to be doing.”

“They aren’t—”

“Yes?”

“Nevermind. Yeah, we won’t tell a soul.”

“I will hold you to your word, Sir Weinberg.”

Suzaku took a blanket out of the basket he had brought with him. “Now that that’s settled, how about we eat? I know for a fact that these two haven’t eaten in hours”, he said, gesturing at Gino and Anya, “and I doubt you have either. You seemed to enjoy the biscuits last time, and now that I know you’re originally from our world, I think you might appreciate eating something like this for a change. Honestly, you two being the vi Britannia siblings explains so much, like why you seemed to know so much about humans and our world, and especially why you seemed to personally know the members of the Royal Family”, he laughed, handing Nunnally a biscuit without being asked. The girl took it happily and started munching on it, her smile growing wider with each bite.

“That sounds like a good idea. Thanks Suzaku. Did you get these from the cafe?”, Gino asked, his hand hovering over the sandwich box, as though he didn’t know whether he was allowed to take some.

“Yeah! Lloyd and Ms. Cécile just gave me these when I mentioned that I was going on a picnic with friends. And feel free to take one, Gino, you know they won’t bite you”, he said grinning. “‘Louch, what do you want? I have drinks and sandwiches and biscuits, as well as some sweets and pizza.”

“C.C. would love it if she got pizza again”, Lelouch mused to himself as he considered the options. Pizza could be nice, but C.C. would murder him if he ate pizza and didn’t get any for her (even if she could technically get it whenever she wanted, unlike the rest of them), so no. She wouldn’t kill Nunnally even if she ate pizza and didn’t get her any, that he knew for sure, but he was certain C.C. would not spare his life. “The sandwiches sound good.”

“Great! I think you’d like these, they’re filled with chicken and curry mayo!” Suzaku took one of the sandwiches and placed it in Lelouch’s hand. His fingers brushed quickly against Lelouch’s as he took it gratefully, and for a second, it seemed to create a spark between them. He felt his cheeks heating lightly. It took Lelouch’s all to control himself and stop himself from jumping back. 

Nunnally snickered at him, glancing at him from the corner of her eye before returning to her conversation with Anya, both doing a good job in emptying the biscuit box. The two seemed to grow closer by the second. Lelouch was glad he got to see his precious little sister smile so much.

“Soooo, Your Highness, do you have anyone you like?”

Gino’s voice broke through Lelouch’s thoughts and he turned his gaze at him. The way he was grinning at him already told Lelouch that whatever he answered, he would not enjoy the conversation after. “I doubt you think it’s appropriate to ask that, sir Weinberg”, he replied, schooling his face into a rather cool and neutral expression, forcing himself to keep his eyes at Gino. It would do him no good if he ended up glancing at Suzaku or blushing.

“C’mon, it’s not like I’m asking you if you’re dating someone.”

“You could as well be asking just that. I refuse to answer.”

“Jeez, you’re still so uptight about everything. This is why we aren’t friends.”

“I can hear you, Weinberg. Shut your mouth.” 

Lelouch had, unfortunately, forgotten that this man was too much alike Milly, only he was actually friends with Milly. The difference was probably the fact Milly didn’t have the uncomfortable need to be unnecessarily polite in the presence of royalty. The two of them could basically be twins (they even looked similar), if not for the fact that Gino was two years younger than Milly. 

Suzaku snorted and covered his mouth with his hand, slightly shaking. “Are you— are you sure you two aren’t friends? This kind of very much sounds like you were”, he managed to stay before he burst out laughing. 

Gino actually had the audacity to look offended at the mere idea of them being friends, although, Lelouch had to admit, he only noticed this because he himself was staring at Suzaku, as though he had said something completely stupid and unrealistic, something that was absolutely impossible. 

“Yeah, they aren’t, although they’re finally civil acquaintances nowadays”, Anya said. Apparently both girls decided they were more interested in their conversation now, rather than mostly ignoring their existence. Damnit.

“But their bickering sounds so much like banter. And what do you mean ‘finally civil acquaintances’?”

“Suzaku, these two _hated_ each other more than almost anything around seven years ago. Whenever an adult wasn’t looking, they were verbally at each other’s throats, believe me. So sure, they behaved in front of adults, but like, they were never friends”, Nunnally laughed, making Lelouch groan and bury his face into his hands. 

Oh god, he wished they let it go already. 

  


❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

  


Suzaku bit his lip as he tried not to laugh and petted Lelouch’s hair. Oh god, it was so soft and silky, he never wanted to stop. Lelouch hummed quietly as he continued, probably not even aware that he was doing it. Otherwise, Suzaku was quite sure he wouldn’t be so content with Suzaku being so close as he could — albeit barely — hear it. 

When Suzaku looked at his other friends again, he found Gino smirking at him, Anya staring at him with a weird glint in her eyes, and Nunnally smiling happily — although he still remembered the look she had shot him only mere days earlier, and that memory made her smile a lot more dangerous and terrifying. Gosh, how could someone so small and adorable be so terrifying? 

And, judging by the look in his human friends’ eyes, he wouldn’t be hearing the end of this once they got home or perhaps out of the mersiblings’ hearing range. There was no escape. Damn him and his crush on a merperson who was also apparently a freaking _prince_ of all things possible, and thus totally out of his league. Damn him and his crush on someone who had soft hair and enchanting eyes and a soothing voice. 

Damn everything. 

Once they had eaten every edible thing Suzaku brought (it took surprisingly long to get Lelouch straighten up and start eating again), Suzaku, Gino and Anya decided they should head back home. Euphie’s commemoration would be the next day, and even though they now had the knowledge she was alive, they would be mourning her, and they needed all the sleep they could get. 

“So, you and His Highness, huh? Good choice, he’s damn attractive — also never tell him I said that —, and he actually cares about those around him”, Gino said, winking as he elbowed Suzaku to the side while the three of them were walking home. 

“There’s nothing going on between us, believe me. Absolutely nothing. It’s— It’s ridiculous you could even think I had feelings for him! Maybe you like him instead and are making sure you don’t have any competition! And he especially feels nothing towards me, it’s— there’s—”

“Calm down”, Anya said, sighing. “We all know you like him, don’t even try to deny it. I saw the heart eyes you were looking at him with. It’s amusing. Especially the princess seemed to be having fun with teasing you.”

“Please, do not remind me, I beg you.”

He was being honest — he really did not want to remember. The girl had come up with a ship name for them (It was SuzaLulu, apparently. Just thinking about it made Suzaku blush) with Anya, and Suzaku didn’t know what to make of it at all. Nunnally was Lelouch’s sister, and the two were very close. Suzaku knew she would never do anything to offend Lelouch, especially on purpose, and she wouldn’t play with Lelouch’s feelings or toy with Suzaku's feelings for Lelouch, so what in the world was it? She had whispered the ship name to Suzaku with a ghost of a smirk on her face, too. 

She had also mentioned how cute they were while Suzaku was still stroking Lelouch’s hair. Suzaku had almost jerked his hand away because of it, but the little frown he saw on Lelouch’s face when he stopped his hand made him continue. 

Gino instead had been wiggling his eyebrows at Suzaku whenever Lelouch couldn’t see and Suzaku happened to look at him instead of stare at Lelouch with a “lovestruck expression decorated with heart eyes” on his face, as Anya had so elegantly put it.  

Anya instead had settled for staring at him and giving him a knowing look, a ghost of a smirk ever-present on her face. She had also kept questioning both of them what kind of a person they would develop a crush on. Damn her.

And, considering all these things they did and the fact Suzaku’s eyes kept darting over to Lelouch, Suzaku had no idea whether Lelouch was aware of his feelings. It began to feel like it was impossible for him _not to_ be aware of them more and more with every passing second. The chance that Lelouch possibly knew was terrible, but he couldn’t stop himself dreaming that maybe Lelouch felt the same, and so blush kept creeping on his face, heating his cheeks.

Oh dear lord, he hated all of his friends so much. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Euphie is alright, I could never kill her off in AUs (ok I probably could but still.)
> 
> As always, if you've got any questions about this AU, do ask them. I will happily talk about this (and all of my other stories) as long as it doesn't mean I have to give out spoilers. 
> 
> Kudos and comments make my day, so don't be afraid to tell me what you thought of this! 
> 
> (Oh, and if you need more SuzaLulu content and haven't read my other fics, I've got 10 other Code Geass fics I have written and finished, you can check them out as well!)


	6. In the Depths of the Ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I fucked up" is probably all Suzaku can think of right now. This is why you ask before doing anything, boy.
> 
> Meanwhile, Lelouch is confused and hurt. 
> 
> Things could be going better as well, they both decide, but life seems to disagree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeaahhh… It seems it takes me a month to always update this, so I suppose you can start expecting that. Oh well. Maybe I'll get this done before the end of next year. Hopefully. 
> 
> Anyway, you can thank the person that came to talk to me about this story on Instagram because it motivated me to just start writing and, well. I ended up writing 2,4k words in one day.

“—Became a barista? Really? Somehow, knowing him, I cannot imagine that ever happening… Suzaku? Suzaku, are you even listening to me?”

“Huh?” ****  
** **

Yeah, so maybe, possibly Suzaku was a little lost in Lelouch’s eyes as he was talking, but it wasn’t like anyone could blame him. They were so beautiful and enchanting, and when he was interested in the conversation, his eyes gained this little spark that shone so beautifully and always drove Suzaku’s heart crazy. Honestly, the entirety of Lelouch was beautiful and enchanting and drove Suzaku crazy with love no matter how he was.  ****  
** **

It was getting harder and harder for Suzaku to simply ignore the growing feelings in his chest. According to Anya, he’d talked about Lelouch and only Lelouch for three hours straight (yes, very  _ straight _ indeed) to her and Gino just the night before. He had to admit, it was getting a little out of control.  ****  
** **

Lelouch sighed and shook his head, taking Suzaku’s hand in his. “Suzaku, if you’re going to be spacing out the entire time, I suggest you go back home and sleep it off. I have other things to fo as well if you’re too tired from work, you don’t have to force yourself to be here with me.” ****  
** **

“No! I mean, no, I love spending time with you. Sorry.” ****  
** **

Suzaku smiled at Lelouch as the latter rolled his eyes fondly. He tried to prove he wasn’t too out of it, as he didn’t want to go home, not yet. Sure, he was a  _ little _ sleep-deprived and was basically now running on only pure caffeine and maybe a good four hours of sleep, but being there with Lelouch was his favourite part of the week. He wouldn’t miss it for the world.  ****  
** **

“Are you sure? You really do look like you slept less than the recommended amount of hours last night. If I had to guess, I’d say you slept around four hours. It’s not healthy, and definitely not good for you, Suzaku. If you keep this on, Nunn— no,  _ I _ will start worrying about you even more.” ****  
** **

Damn Lelouch and his perceptiveness. He just wanted to spend a little time with his friend turned crush bigger than life without being attacked because of his lack of sleep. He had gotten enough of that from Ms Cécile earlier that day. ****  
** **

And if Lelouch would drive him away now, even if it was only to get some more sleep, he really couldn’t take it. Sure, he knew Lelouch was like this with him only because he really did care and because he was terrible at expressing his feelings like normal people, but it didn’t really— ****  
** **

“Suzaku. You’re spacing out again. You should really go to sleep now. We can meet up tomorrow if you promise me you will sleep at least three hours more than you did last night.”

“But I want to be here with you!” ****  
** **

With a frown on his face, Lelouch furrowed his brows and inhaled deep. As he let out the breath he’d been keeping, he massaged his temples, as though he was trying to get rid of a headache caused by sheer irritation.  ****  
** **

“Alright then, I’ll give you  _ one _ more chance. Is there anything I could do to help you?” ****  
** **

Suzaku thought about it, placing his chin in his hands. His first idea was, as one could guess, to do something really, really stupid, say, kiss that frown off Lelouch’s face. What stopped him was the small voice in his head that reminded him Lelouch didn’t, in fact, reciprocate his feelings, and if Suzaku kissed him, Lelouch would be frowning even more — and he would also likely call their friendship off.  ****  
** **

Okay, maybe that was something Lelouch would never do. Lelouch had easily become one of his best friends, and Suzaku knew Lelouch would never make fun of his feelings, he would never drive suzaku away because of his feelings, and he would never use them to hurt him either. So, he wouldn’t probably actually call their friendship off.  ****  
** **

However, that didn’t mean kissing Lelouch would be okay even then. It would still be extremely offensive and unthoughtful, and Lelouch would definitely have every right to just break his arm or punch him in the face right then and there. Suzaku would even encourage it if Lelouch so wanted to do. He strongly doubted Lelouch would actually want to do such a thing, but it was sure that he would never return Suzaku’s feelings.  ****  
** **

Besides, kissing someone without their consent would basically be sexual harassment and Suzaku would definitely be overstepping his boundaries, so no.  ****  
** **

Hmh, maybe he was just craving Lelouch’s touch. He’d enjoyed stroking Lelouch’s hair and Lelouch had seemed to be content with it as well. Maybe holding his hand or hugging him, maybe something like that would work.  ****  
** **

Oh, but that was just it! He’d never hugged Lelouch before as hanging onto his shoulders could hardly be counted as hugging. That was something he wanted to do, and hopefully Lelouch would be alright with it as well. That  _ was _ something friends did, right? It wouldn’t be weird at all. ****  
** **

“Uh, maybe, I don’t know, if you weren’t too against the idea, I’d like to hug you?” ****  
** **

Lelouch stared at Suzaku like he had just grown a third head — or so it at least felt like to him. Suzaku wasn’t really sure what to think of it. Asking wasn’t wrong, right? Or was hugging something merpeople considered something else than humans did? Like, something only family members or lovers did? Or— ****  
** **

No, but Lelouch had been a human once (it was still kind of hard for Suzaku to wrap his mind around the fact Lelouch had once been an actual, literal prince, but he managed), so he would understand what Suzaku meant.  ****  
** **

But then again, he grew up in the royal court, and the royal family members wouldn’t hug just anyone. They seemed to barely hug even their own full blood family members, let alone anyone else. So what if Suzaku had just driven Lelouch away by it? What if— ****  
** **

“Hug me?”

“I mean, I just really like hugging my friends and I’ve never hugged you even though I consider you one of my closest friends and I just thought it was weird but I mean of course if you don’t want you don’t have to and if you find it somehow offensive I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to be inconsiderate and— oh my god I didn’t even consider that you might not even like hugs and oh my god I’m so sorry for asking I’m such a terrible friend and now I’m rambling and—” ****  
** **

“Okay.” ****  
** **

Suzaku visibly deflated. “Of course, I understand, I won’t— wait,  _ what _ ?” As he realised what Lelouch had said, he straightened up again.  ****  
** **

“I said, okay, as in you can hug me if you want to.”

“Really?”

“I just said you could. Start listening to what I say. If you ask me one more time, I will say no.”

“Okay, I— thank you, this is like the greatest day of my life!” ****  
** **

Suzaku couldn’t even begin to explain the explosive happiness inside him at that moment, but he felt like Lelouch would understand well enough even without any words. He pulled the merperson into a hug and, after a few seconds, he could sense Lelouch’s hands on his back, fumbling uncertainly as he hugged Suzaku back. It was clear that he was hesitating a little, but it didn’t lessen Suzaku’s happiness at all. He was just really glad that Lelouch had decided to hug him back — it didn’t matter that he seemed a little unsure about it. ****  
** **

When they broke apart, Suzaku’s smile was wider than he thought was even humanly possible. Suzaku was almost sure that if he kept smiling like that, his face would split into two — not that he would mind that much, as even then, it’d be definitely worth it.  ****  
** **

“You’re so warm! I could keep hugging you forever!”

“Warm? Everyone always says I’m cold, even when I was still alive, so this is new.”

“I mean, yes, your hands are a little cold, but otherwise, no, you’re not.” ****  
** **

Or, maybe the warmth Suzaku had felt was because of his crush on Lelouch — or was it love at this point? He didn’t know — but well, whatever it was, it was highly likely it was playing a significant part in this.  ****  
** **

“Uh, can I… Can I hug you again? It was nice.” ****  
** **

Suzaku tried his best not to sound like a pathetic and desperate puppy, but he wasn’t sure he was succeeding. He was a little touch-starved, and now that he knew he could hug Lelouch — although he was definitely going to be asking for permission before actually doing so for a long time—, he was more than eager to experience that sensation again. ****  
** **

Lelouch nodded and smiled a little, that smiled that always just melted Suzaku. “If you want to, then yes.” ****  
** **

He could only imagine the excited face he was making at Lelouch right now. ****  
** **

 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

If Lelouch had to describe Suzaku in one word right now, it would be “excited”, and even that would be a grave understatement. His smile widened the second Lelouch had said yes (how was that even possible?), and right now he looked like was about to start jumping up and down from sheer happiness.  ****  
** **

Lelouch wouldn’t even be surprised.  ****  
** **

But, it did — even if Lelouch would be caught dead admitting to it, no way in hell he would ever say it out loud — make Lelouch happy too. Suzaku's happiness was contagious.  ****  
** **

Suzaku hugged Lelouch again, squeezing him a little tighter this time. Lelouch could feel Suzaku bury his nose at the crook of Lelouch’s neck. His warm huffs of breath tickled a little on the sensitive skin of his neck, but Lelouch didn’t mind, at all. It was, frankly speaking, very comfortable to just be like this.  ****  
** **

It was just a little odd for him to hug someone that was neither a merperson or Nunnally, but he would manage. He was just used to hugging someone when he was not sitting — and besides, merpeople tended to wrap their tails together when hugging.  ****  
** **

(That worked if you actually kissed someone as well, since both hugging and kissing someone on the lips were considered very intimate between either very close friends, family, or lovers.) ****  
** **

((Yeah, he probably should stop thinking about kissing anyone while in Suzaku’s presence or he would end up actually kissing him without meaning to do it.)) ****  
** **

Lelouch sweeped some hairs off Suzaku’s face when they let go of each other again. It was mostly a reflex, but he did also want to touch Suzaku a little bit more. Besides, Suzaku had a nice face. It was nice seeing it.  ****  
** **

“Eh? What—” ****  
** **

Lelouch’s eyes widened as he fully comprehended what he was doing. Of course he had  _ known _ , but he hadn’t really thought it through like he usually did. This was another being he was touching, and some people didn’t appreciate having their faces touched, at all. ****  
** **

(Apparently most of his filters went to hell when he was near Suzaku, whether it be words or actions. Irritating.) ****  
** **

“I’m— I apologise. Your hair was on your face, so I thought I should move it to see you better— I mean, so that  _ you _ could see better.” ****  
** **

Suzaku laughed. “It’s okay, ‘Louch, I don’t mind at all, I was just surprised. You can do that as much as you like”, he said and shot Lelouch a bright smile. Never trust a man whose smile steals your breath right from your lungs, indeed. If Lelouch hadn’t understood it before today, he most definitely did now because of Suzaku. Not that that advice would help him with this particular case anymore, though. So, tilting his head a little and closing his eyes, Lelouch smiled back.  ****  
** **

Then he felt a hand on his cheek and another on his shoulder. Lelouch didn’t even have time to open his eyes before there was something on his lips. Or, more like, before there were someone else’s lips on his.  ****  
** **

Lelouch snapped his eyes wide open and saw brown hair in front of him. Of course it was Suzaku, there was no one else there anyway.  ****  
** **

Suzaku was kissing him. Suzaku, who Lelouch had taken a strong liking to, was kissing him.  ****  
** **

Lelouch froze  _ completely. _ ****  
** **

But, didn’t this mean Suzaku liked him? It did, didn’t it? ****  
** **

So, as Lelouch was just about to melt into the kiss and kiss Suzaku back, Suzaku pulled away, face completely red and his eyes wide. He backed away from Lelouch, stood up and stumbled a few steps away from him. He was trembling.  ****  
** **

“I... I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to— Please forgive me— I need to… I need to go. Now.” ****  
** **

And with that, Suzaku grabbed his back with still shaking hands, turned around and ran. He ran away from Lelouch who was unable to follow him. ****  
** **

“Suzaku!” ****  
** **

Lelouch was left alone on the shore. He yelled after Suzaku, but Suzaku didn’t spare even a glance at him. And so, for the first time in what felt like ages, Lelouch found tears on his cheeks. He found himself crying.  ****  
** **

And yet, he waited. He kept waiting for Suzaku to hopefully come back so they could talk things out and discuss what had happened. So they could solve whatever the problem was between them now and figure out how to go on from there. He hoped Suzaku would return to him, but realistically, after the first ten minutes he’d waited, Lelouch knew that wasn’t going to happen.  ****  
** **

After an hour, Lelouch realised he should leave. If Suzaku had been planning to come back, he would have already done so. Lelouch couldn’t spend the rest of the day here if he didn’t even have anything to do, especially if he  _ did _ have something to do in his own world.  ****  
** **

The cold water embraced him as he dived in and swam deeper and deeper, always until he swam into his sister halfway to Exelica. She had rushed to Lelouch immediately after seeing him, a wide smile directed at him, but that smile died on her face as soon as she got close. As soon as she could actually see  _ his _ face.  ****  
** **

“What happened?”, Nunnally asked, furrowing her brows. Her tone was concerned as she reached for Lelouch’s hand. Her other hand she put on Lelouch’s cheek and examined his face, as though trying to find traces of someone hurting him.  ****  
** **

“Have you— have you been crying? Big brother, what happened to you? Did Suzaku do something to you?”, she asked. Her forehead wrinkled and she pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing him. She wrapped her tail around his as her arms around him tightened. “I’m here for you, so please, let me help you.” ****  
** **

“I— He, he asked me if he could hug me today”, Lelouch replied, unable to find the suitable words for what he needed to say. 

“That is probably not why you were crying, though. He did something else as well, didn’t he?” ****  
** **

Lelouch nodded and turned his gaze away from Nunnally, not sure how to express it. Eventually, he just ended up saying it the most simple way he could think of, if only to get it out of his system. ****  
** **

“He kissed me.”

“You like him, so why is it such a bad thing? Did he do it as a dare, or was he playing with you? There was something else that happened to make you like this, wasn’t there?” ****  
** **

A small smile found its way to Lelouch’s face as he listened to her trying to help him. It was heart-warming to see how much his sister cared about him, and that she was actually trying to understand the situation before rushing to any decisions. After all, she was a vi Britannia through and through, and they were known for making decisions rather quick, especially if their loved one had been hurt — and they were known for being vicious when it came to that. Seeing that she refrained herself from doing it for him was touching.  ****  
** **

“No, I don’t think he was doing anything bad, it’s just, he ran away. He didn’t stay to listen to me, he didn’t stay even to explain himself. He did apologise, though, said he didn’t mean to, and looked terrified of what he had done.” ****  
** **

Nunnally tilted her head and brought her finger to her lips, still contemplating what she should next say or do. “Well, I think, if he indeed did look scared, that he was afraid you’d judge him badly for his feelings. I know you would never even if you didn’t like him, don’t give me that look, but I’m not sure he knows it as well”, she said and let go of Lelouch, only to put her hands on his shoulders right away. She gave them a little squeeze before taking Lelouch’s hand into her own and smiling at him reassuringly.  ****  
** **

“I’m sure it will be all right. Now, come. Euphie said she wanted to go to a restaurant now that she’s finally feeling better. We should also have Shirley attach the jewels under her eyes as soon as possible. After all, she’s family”, Nunnally said, changing the subject completely. Her demeanour changed in seconds and she couldn't stay still as she was brimming with excitement, eager to show Euphie what they had in their kingdom.  ****  
** **

Lelouch laughed lightly. “Sure, let’s go.” ****  
** **

 

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

Nunnally led her brother towards their kingdom and Euphie’s room. After all, she’d promised they would pick her up from there once she came back with Lelouch. She was glad the three of them were together again, although she was a little sad whenever she remembered Cornelia and Euphie were separated because of it.  ****  
** **

And what came to Suzaku, Nunnally was irritated. She had warned Suzaku, hadn’t she? She would have been perfectly alright with them dating (aside from the fact merpeople didn’t age and it would one day hurt Lelouch when he lost Suzaku unless Suzaku drowned as well), sure, but what angered her was that he had kissed Lelouch without asking for permission and then  _ run away _ . That was far from what Nunnally considered okay.  ****  
** **

She wasn’t about to let her big brother know how angry she was with Suzaku, though. He was anxious enough about it as it was, and Nunnally knew it could make everything much worse if she let him know how she felt about all this.  ****  
** **

“He’s kind of really down. Suzaku kissed him and then just fled, so if he seems a little out of it, please bear with him”, Nunnally told Euphie as they got to her. The way Euphie frowned and then seemed to swallow something down didn’t go past Nunnally, and while she didn’t necessarily enjoy telling Euphie that — seeing as she was aware Euphie liked Suzaku at least a little —, Nunnally needed her to know.  ****  
** **

Euphie just nodded and then smiled brightly at Lelouch, starting up a conversation about what she’d learnt about Exelica up until now, asking him questions they all knew she already had the answers to. Nunnally (and Lelouch likely as well) appreciated it a lot nonetheless as it took Lelouch’s mind away from the earlier, at least for a little while. ****  
** **

Suzaku had better clean up the mess he created and quick. He would not want Nunnally to get involved in all this, and she definitely would if she thought she was needed, or if he took too long to take care of the mess he left behind.  ****  
** **

There was noone, absolutely  _ no one _ who could get away with hurting her big brother, no matter the reason.  ****  
** **

No one. 

****

 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

****

 

Suzaku ran towards Pendragon as fast as he could, almost tripping multiple times as she wasn’t looking where she was going. He even ran into a tree once. His nose still ached.  ****  
** **

Oh god. ****  
** **

He had kissed Lelouch.  ****  
** **

_ He had kissed Lelouch and then run away. _ ****  
** **

He was such a horrible friend. Lelouch must hate him now.  ****  
** **

Okay, so logically, he did know Lelouch didn’t hate him. Lelouch wouldn’t do that — and besides, when he’d called after Suzaku, his voice hadn’t been angry at all. It was sad and sounded like he was on the brink of tears. Suzaku had almost turned back at that point — he had  _ wanted _ to do so — but his legs had kept running and he was just unable to do it. The next think he knew was that he was already too far away to go back.  ****  
** **

So, now he found himself leaning against a post, panting. His lungs were hurting, as were his legs. Suzaku just simply sank to the ground, having lost too much of his strength.  ****  
** **

“What’s up buddy, why so down?”, a familiar voice called, snickering at his own joke the next second. Suzaku glanced up to see who it was and was met with the face of his colleague and friend. Rivalz, how else. The one most devastated when Milly disappeared and was presumed dead after a few years.  ****  
** **

He wondered if Milly had drowned. It would explain many things, such as why there was no traces of her after her disappearance. Lelouch’s weird friend sounded like her as well.  ****  
** **

Well, he could ask Lelouch later about that.  ****  
** **

That is, if he could ever go back.  ****  
** **

“Suzaku?” ****  
** **

“Oh shit, I’ve been doing this a lot lately. Sorry, what did you say?”, he asked, snapping back to reality as Rivalz called him by his name.  ****  
** **

“Yeah, so I’ve noticed. Okay, let’s go to Cécile and Lloyd and talk about whatever…”, Rivalz gestured at all of Suzaku that was still on his knees on the ground, “that is over food. I’ll hit Gino and Anya up as well, you don’t look like you’d be happy about telling the same story over and over to multiple people”, he said grinning, clearly satisfied with the way he thought and helped Suzaku up by pulling him from his armpits.  ****  
** **

“Sure”,  Suzaku replied and pulled the pendant he’d gotten from Nunnally from under his shirt when Rivalz looked away. He fiddled with it, hoping it would bring him enough strength to tell his friends what happened, even if the pendant reminded him most of all of the threatening glare Nunnally had shot him a while ago, even if it reminded him that he’d duly messed up and Nunnally was going to have his head. It wasn’t like he could properly tell what had happened that well since he could never let Rivalz, Ms Cécile or Lloyd know about merpeople, so he might as well just let Nunnally kill him.  ****  
** **

Actually, he would even encourage it.  ****  
** **

He couldn’t tell Rivalz he spent most of his time by the water, he couldn’t explain Ms Cécile why he was crying over someone that lived in the depths of the ocean, he couldn’t talk about his enormous crush on the most beautiful being he’d ever seen that happened to belong to an underwater kingdom to Lloyd. It didn’t matter that Rivalz was one of his closest friends, or that Ms Cécile and Lloyd were the closest thing he had to parents. He could never tell them who he was in love with.  ****  
** **

It wasn’t easy nor did he like it, but he would never betray Lelouch. No matter what happened between them because of what he did, he would never let anyone in his life know about merpeople, not unless Lelouch and Nunnally both gave him an explicit permission to do so. Well, at least he had Gino and Anya who knew, he could talk about all this to them,  ****  
** **

The bell above the door chimed as they entered the cafe. There weren’t any customers at the moment, so to Rivalz, it seemed to be a good time to try and pull Ms Cécile and Lloyd form their work. Rivalz’ phone pinged as well, informing them that Gino and Anya were on their way.  ****  
** **

“Hi Cécile, hi Lloyd, my man Suzaku is down and he needs to be cheered up!”, Rivalz announced as soon as the two cafe owners came up to the front.  ****  
** **

“Oh, is he now? Well, I suppose that requires cupcakes and macarons, then. Lloyd get Suzaku a hot chocolate, I’ll make the rest of us some coffee. God knows that boy shouldn’t drink any more caffeine for the next few weeks”, Suzaku said to herself and her partner and then turned back to the two young men. “Are Anya and Gino coming as well?” ****  
** **

“Of course, we need them if we’re going to try making this one talk”, Rivalz replied and seated Suzaku on the nearest sofa. Then he brought him a blanket (yes, in the middle of summer) and didn’t really give Suzaku a choice as he wrapped him up in it.  ****  
** **

It didn’t take Anya and Gino long to get there, and by the time they were sitting down as well, Anya next to Suzaku and Gino facing him from the other side of the table, Ms Cécile had brought them all drinks and Lloyd some pastries. Cécile had also turned the ‘open’ sign around so that no one would disturb them. It was touching, Suzaku decided.  ****  
** **

“So, spit it out. What happened?”, Gino asked and bit down on his strawberry macaron. His face twisted in disgust as he spit it out to his napkin. Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, still pretending to be gagging. “Who the fuck put toothpaste in this?” ****  
** **

Suzaku didn’t miss Anya’s snicker next to him, but he had definitely missed when she had done it (when had she even had the time?) Lloyd would never purposefully ruin his own pastries, Rivalz wouldn’t have even thought about it (and also, he wouldn’t have been subtle at all), and as Ms Cécile was too kind to do such a thing, so, Anya it was. ****  
** **

Gino, for his part, didn’t seem to notice Anya’s glee or the smirk on her face, so he just frowned and set the macaron aside. Yep, toothpaste indeed, Suzaku confirmed as he saw the white and blue filling in the macaron that was supposed to have strawberry flavoured  _ pink _ filling. ****  
** **

Oh well. ****  
** **

“I fucked up”, Suzaku said, not providing them an explanation any further. He was sure they would ask anyway, and he didn’t feel like saying it on his own (especially without blurting out something he wasn’t supposed to say). He grabbed a cupcake with lemon icing and cut it in half before eating. It didn’t contain toothpaste. Good.  ****  
** **

(Suzaku was sure he didn’t imagine the offended huff that came from beside him, but with Anya, it was hard to know.) ****  
** **

“You gotta elaborate a little on that, buddy. We can’t help you based on ‘I fucked up’ as it can mean you murdered someone, robbed a bank or failed an exam”, Rivalz said, resting his head on his forearms.  ****  
** **

“I’m not even in school right now, it’s summer holidays”, Suzaku deadpanned. 

“You’re speaking as if you haven’t ever failed exams during the summer.”

“I have, in fact, never failed— Wait, are you speaking from personal experience? How did you fail an exam when you weren’t even in school?”

“That’s a story for another time. Anyway. What does your ‘I fucked up’ mean?” ****  
** **

Suzaku sighed and buried his face in his hands. His cheeks were burning and Suzaku was sure that the blush gracing his cheeks was more than obvious to all present. ****  
** **

“Sooooo, I might have kissed my crush today.” ****  
** **

“But that’s amazing, man! What’s her name?”, Rivalz asked, throwing an arm around Suzaku’s shoulders.  ****  
** **

“Nope, not amazing, in fact, it’s far from it. Also,  _ his _ name, and it doesn’t matter.”

“ _ HIS _ ??”

“Rivalz, I’m bisexual.” ****  
** **

Gino raised a finger to shush everyone down and looked at Suzaku with the most disbelieving expression imaginable. “Okay, wow wow wow, Suzaku, hold your horses, slow down, whatever, rewind and repeat what you just said. You kissed him? You actually  _ kissed him _ ?”, he asked, eyes wide. “This is unbelievable.” ****  
** **

(Suzaku definitely didn’t image the jealous “you know his crush? That’s unfair. Wait, you too, Anya? I’m not your friend anymore!” that came from Rivalz. Suzaku ignored it completely.) ****  
** **

“That’s what he just said, Gino, try to keep up. I know it’s hard for your little brain to understand clearly spoken words, but try at least, for his sake”, Anya said, kicking him under the table. Gino screeched before glaring at Anya.  ****  
** **

Yeah, Suzaku knew, it was sometimes hard to believe the two were good friends. ****  
** **

“So, why was it not amazing? You kissed your crush, and judging by the lack of a red palm print on your cheek, he didn’t slap you for doing it either. So, what went wrong?”, Lloyd asked with an unreadable expression on his face. He was leaning against the palm of his hands, observing each and every miniscule change Suzaku could possibly show in his expression or body language. Everyone else always said that being observed by Lloyd was unnerving, but Suzaku had grown a little too used to it and always simply shrugged it off.  ****  
** **

“No, he didn’t slap me, but it’s not like I really gave him a chance to do it anyway. I kissed him, then realised what I was doing, apologised and… ran.” ****  
** **

“Suzaku, I know him quite well, and that’s like the worst thing you could have done”, Anya sighed from beside him and popped an entire macaron in her mouth.  ****  
** **

“What? What was the worst thing I could have done? Kissing him? I know that already, but—”

“No. I’m certain he likes you back and even if he didn’t, he would have never been angry with you because of what you did. Running away is what I mean. Even if he doesn’t let people see it, the ones he loves and cares about can hurt him easily. He’s also an overthinker, so he’s probably managed to convince himself that you hate him and/or are disgusted by what you did by now.” ****  
** **

“That’s true. He’s the type of a person who’d rather talk everything out with those who he cares about, and you didn’t even give him a chance to do that, I assume. Ten says he called after you and you didn’t even spare him a glance.”

“Gino, no one’s gonna take up on that bet since all of us know you’d win”, Rivalz mused. “I don’t even know the guy, but I know Suzaku so that’s most likely exactly what he did.” ****  
** **

Suzaku felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Ms Cécile.  ****  
** **

“Suzaku, is this person your close friend?”

“Yeah.. That’s partly why it’s so bad I fucked up.”

“First of all, language. And secondly, if you two are close friends, he’ll forgive you even if your feelings aren’t reciprocated.” ****  
** **

Suzaku nodded to show Ms Cécile he understood. He really appreciated her and her advice — especially as she tended to have great advice. She understood people well, after all.  ****  
** **

“You do need to apologise anyway. Unless you know for certain someone is alright with you kissing them even without a warning, you shouldn’t do it, and that’s why apologising is so important. That’s how life works. You need to talk to him.” Ms Cécile smiled at him and gave his shoulder a firm squeeze. 

“I know. I didn’t mean to kiss him in the first place, I told myself I wouldn’t do it, but then I just… lost control of myself.”

“See, it wasn’t even news to you what you need to do. I’m sure everything will be alright.” ****  
** **

Suzaku nodded again and ate his second cupcake. Just like Ms Cécile said, everything was going to be alright.  ****  
** **

A little later Anya and Gino thanked everyone for helping them with Suzaku and took him home to sleep. They too agreed that he was far too sleep-deprived to function properly anymore, and that if they wanted him to actually be able to talk things out with Lelouch, he would need to be more awake for that.  ****  
** **

Not like he actually slept that much, but at least he rested.  ****  
** **

Suzaku decided he would go talk to Lelouch the next day, maybe as the first thing in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> You can find my design for Merley (MerShirley) [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BxwF6r5hCXx/) and Merphie (MerEuphie) [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BvbCfC3BTas/). 
> 
> And, as always, because no I will never get tired of saying it, you can ask me anything about this AU, and I will answer your questions should they not be spoilers for the rest of the story.


	7. Drops of Water Dripping Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gino and Anya get tired of Suzaku's shit, scheme behind his back and then force him to talk to Lelouch. 
> 
> Things... go. 
> 
> (Whether they go well or badly? They do not know.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the few chapters that are the reason for the 'fluff and angst' tag there. Yeah. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy?

Suzaku did not go talk to Lelouch the next day. 

Nor the day after that. 

Or, actually, for the entire following week. Every time he tried, his attempts stopped at the door because he couldn’t touch the door handle for some reason and ended up not being able to even get out of the house. 

Gino and Anya were, frankly speaking, getting real tired of his shit. 

“Suzaku, for fuck’s sake, he’s probably stressing about this just as much as you are, if not more!”, Gino yelled at him while Suzaku was walking in a circle in their living room yet again. He had been doing that a _ lot _ in the past week — so much, that Anya had at one point said something about probably being able to draw the exact circle he kept walking on the floor. 

“Yeah, but what if—”

“Suzaku.”

“—And then he will never talk to me ever again and—” 

“ _ Suzaku _ .”

“Oh and Nunnally is definitely so mad at me that she’s going to kill me the second she lays her eyes on me and she has the right to because I most definitely offended her brother horribly and—”

“ _ Suzaku _ !”

Suzaku stopped and looked at Gino who had yelled at him, finally fed up with his rambling. He was glaring at Suzaku with an exasperated expression and ran a hand through his hair. “What in the world are we going to do with you?”

Suzaku simply shrugged and resumed walking in a circle, fretting about what could happen if he went back — but, instead of being actually able to do it for more than twice, someone grabbed him from the back of his hoodie and started dragging him towards the front door. Anya just waved at him lightly before turning her focus back to her phone. 

“Let me go, Gino Weinberg! You do  _ not _ want me to get mad at you!”

It was really frustrating that while Suzaku was better at martial arts and fighting in general, Gino was almost impossible to defeat for him once he got a good hold of Suzaku. He was maybe a little stronger, too, but Suzaku doubted that explained why this situation could happen every now and then. Even if there were some (multiple) problems with him dragging Suzaku around as Suzaku tended to fight back, Gino could technically bring him anywhere with him that way. 

The only likely way for Suzaku to get away was if he was either one hundred per cent serious about getting away (mostly in life-or-death situations) or if Gino lost his grip or stopped walking — after all, the second he stopped walking, Suzaku could easily defeat Gino. 

Alas, neither happened, so he was soon out of the door and in the hallway of their flat, going down. 

“Yeah… so while you’re kind of right about that because you  _ are _ quite scary when you get angry, I’d so much rather deal with an angry you than a furious Princess Nunnally or Prince Lelouch. They’re actually frightening and oh  _ so. much. worse. _ ”

Oh fuck. 

That confirmed Suzaku’s suspicions about Gino planning on dragging Suzaku to see and talk with Lelouch — or at least listen when he’s being yelled at. It was, frankly, the last thing he wanted. Like, sure, he knew he  _ should _ talk with Lelouch but also no, he didn’t want to know how much Lelouch hated him. 

He couldn’t bear to hear that Lelouch hated him, and Suzaku was sure that was exactly what he was going to say no matter what Anya (or Gino for that matter, but Anya knew both of the mersiblings much better than Gino did) said. 

But, even so, Suzaku stopped struggling and let Gino drag him to the ness through the paths that were surrounded by all kinds of colourful flowers. The birds were chirping happily, but that didn’t ease Suzaku’s anxiety at all.

He wasn’t expecting to see Lelouch waiting there but there he was nonetheless — and that expression he wore on his face? Unreadable, completely unreadable. Suzaku had no idea what it meant even though he was usually alright at reading Lelouch. 

Suzaku smiled a little and waved weakly at Lelouch who did not return the gesture. Of course. How else. Even if Suzaku hadn’t been expecting him to do so, it still hurt. He didn’t have much time to think about it, though, because that was when Gino told Lelouch to move a little further from the cliff and pushed Suzaku in. The water was fairly shallow, he knew he could stand there normally and the water would be up to his shoulders, but Gino’s actions surprised him. It was shocking to be given no warning, and so he ended up completely under the water. 

If it hadn’t been for Lelouch, he’d also probably hit his head somewhere, but Lelouch moved quickly and caught Suzaku just in time. Suzaku did end up under the water, but Lelouch did not — he’d caught Suzaku just after he went below the surface. Then he helped Suzaku back above the surface but not out of the water. 

Once he was standing steadily on his own two feet, he realised he was soaking wet. Thank god he hadn’t worn any clothing that would suffer too much from the salt water. When he looked at his surroundings better, Suzaku found himself only around ten centimetres from Lelouch’s face. Oh dear, he was not going to survive this alive, if only because his heart didn’t know how to control itself. 

(Oh god, Lelouch was so damn gorgeous. His hair was shining in the sunlight, water dripping from the tips of his hair. His eyes reflected the glimmering water, and even when he was clearly displeased with Suzaku, Suzaku found himself lost in the beauty that was Lelouch.)

Suzaku flinched away on autopilot, not sure what the merperson would do. Gino had already left (that traitor), so Suzaku’s best mean of getting out of the water was to ask Lelouch for help and rely on him — which was something Suzaku was no longer sure Lelouch would do. Well, Lelouch likely wouldn’t kill him because then he would also have to deal with him as a merperson and Suzaku doubted Lelouch wanted that if he hated Suzaku. 

So, maybe he was safe for a while. 

But, when Suzaku took a closer look at Lelouch’s face, he realised Lelouch looked sad. He wasn’t angry, he didn’t look like he was millimetres from slapping Suzaku’s face off. No, his brows were furrowed and he was watching Suzaku closely, his eyes slightly red and teary. Because Lelouch’s face was mostly dry, what now with a few drops of water dripping down since Suzaku had been thrown in and that had created splatters, it told Suzaku he had been here quite a long time. It made the unshed tears in his eyes so much easier to see. They couldn’t have been mistaken for the sea water even if one tried. 

Oh god. 

Of all the things he was expecting, it wasn’t a sad Lelouch. 

Suzaku had no idea what to do with a Lelouch that was close to crying, definitely not how to help him. 

It would be oh so much easier if Nunnally just came up from their kingdom and killed him right then and there. 

Suzaku swallowed and bit his lip. “Soo… We haven’t seen each other in a while…”, he began before he was interrupted. He couldn’t even think of it as rude. 

“I know. It is quite the impossibility to avoid the fact you’ve been avoiding me. And, why did you do it, Suzaku?”, Lelouch asked. It seemed he didn’t even hesitate to just cut Suzaku off and not let him finish whatever it was he had started. It didn’t really matter though, it wasn’t like Suzaku had actually known what he was going to say, either. 

Suzaku also knew immediately what Lelouch meant by ‘it’. Surely, the tone Leluch used couldn’t have indicated anything good. 

He gulped and glanced down before soon bringing his eyes back to Lelouch again. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to, I swear”, he said, hoping Lelouch would accept his apology. 

“You didn’t mean—” Had Suzaku imagined it or did Lelouch’s voice sound disappointed? “Suzaku, you did not answer my question.  _ Why _ did you do it? I don’t care about anything else right now, not even apologies”, Lelouch replied with a stern voice, one that didn’t leave Suzaku any room for arguments. He would have to come clean about his reasons. 

Maybe, just maybe that was for the better anyway.

“I… I did it because I’m— I’m in love with you. I still shouldn’t have done so, of course, it was out of line of me, and I beg you to forgive me. Please. I’d hate to lose you even if it was totally my own fault. I’m sorry.”

Suzaku wanted to look away or maybe just run away. He didn’t want to see any of the expressions Lelouch would probably make, but he stopped himself from turning away. He couldn’t do so, not now. If he was here despite all of his best efforts, he would at least try to do things right. 

Lelouch brought his hand to his face with an exasperated sigh. “Look, Suzaku, I’m not angry with you because you kissed me.”

“Then what is it?”

He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to ask that question, but he really need to. He needed to know what of his actions had actually angered Lelouch so that he could correct his mistake. 

Gino’s words from a few days earlier echoed in his head: “ _ Lelouch is actually extremely forgiving when it comes to those he really cares about — and he definitely cares about you, a lot. You’ve become important to him no matter the fact you haven’t known him that long. I swear, you could probably actually betray him or scream you hate him and that he’d a monster to his face and he’d still forgive you at some point. You don’t need to worry so much — you did nothing of the sort. Just, do your best at expressing that you’re sorry and you’ll be fine. Also, be honest. _ ” 

Yeah… If there was even the slightest chance Lelouch would forgive him, he’d definitely try. He was  _ not  _ going to give up without putting up a fight (not against Lelouch, of course, but whatever it was that was trying to ruin their friendship.)

The thing was, if it wasn’t the kissing that made Lelouch mad, then Suzaku had no idea as to how he could explain and apologise for whatever he’d done. 

“It’s because you didn’t stay to explain yourself.”

Ouch. 

So that was it. 

Yeah, actually, now that he thought about it, Anya  _ had _ suggested that was going to be the problem. Maybe he should have believed her when she said so. 

“You shouldn’t have run away. We could have talked this out a  _ week _ ago if you hadn’t just fled. We also wouldn’t now be having this conversation!”

“I’m sorry—”

Lelouch didn’t let Suzaku continue and put his hand up, gesturing for Suzaku to shut up immediately. He kindly did so without a second’s delay. 

“I’ve been waiting for you here  _ every. single. day”,  _ Lelouch said, emphasising each word. “I had to leave my kingdom to the hands of Nunnally, C.C. and Euphie a lot — too much — because I had no strength to take care of much while in that mindset, and that’s not something I should have done. The kingdom is, of course, Nunnally’s as much as it is mine, but she should have only half of the work at maximum, not nearly three quarters — and C.C. is my aide so she does have a duty as well. But, one of them is not even supposed to need to help with anything, not yet, her body is still exhausted from turning into a merperson.”

So apparently Lelouch wasn’t the only one his mistakes had affected, but it also affected Nunnally, Euphie and this C.C. he’d mentioned a few times. If that wasn’t even the worst of it, but Euphie still wasn’t in full health and his mistakes had possibly made her condition even worse. 

“I hoped you would have come here, so I waited for you for hours, every single day, but you  _ never cared to show up _ ”, Lelouch said, pressing his lips together. Even if he hadn’t showed signs of anger before, if he hadn’t started out with being mad, his face was definitely now showing multiple clear signs of being rather irritated and frustrated. A frown graced his face as his arms were crossed on his chest. “ _ I thought you despised me so much you would never want to see me anymore! _ ”

The hurt in Lelouch’s voice was more than obvious. His voice cracked as he got to the end of his words, and it was so clear — too clear — that he was on the verge of tears. His breathing got faster and more uncontrolled, and it seemed like he was only a little away from hyperventilating. Suzaku’s heart broke with Lelouch’s voice as he said those few words. 

_ He’d never meant to hurt Lelouch, especially not this much. _

Suzaku reached his hand towards Lelouch, about to comfort him, when Lelouch slapped his hand away. 

“I—” I really wasn’t surprising, if Suzaku was being honest, that Lelouch did not want him to even touch him, but it still hurt. It hurt him to know that he’d somehow hurt someone he cared about and never wanted to hurt to the point where they were disgusted at even the idea of him touching them — but the fact it was Lelouch, the one he loved, who was so angry with him made everything a lot worse.

“It was  _ Anya _ who came here yesterday in your stead. I was convinced it was to tell me that you hated me and that I would never see you again. It wasn’t until she assured me that wasn’t the case for what must have been at least the fifth time that I actually believed she wasn’t lying. She also needed to promise she’d do her best to get you here today somehow — which I suppose explains Weinberg throwing you in here — so that we could finally talk. So,  _ care to explain yourself _ ?”

Lelouch’s tone was full of scorn, but also echoing with hurt. Suzaku hated that he was the one to make Lelouch like this. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t have any excuses for my behaviour. I shouldn’t have run away in the first place, and then I should have come back before Gino had to physically drag me”, Suzaku said, head hung down. “I was scared  _ you _ hated  _ me _ and so I couldn’t bring myself to come here all the way to hear that — but that’s no excuse. I should have come anyway, if only to hope I had a chance to repair our friendship. I suppose I no longer do. I never wanted to hurt you, and I hope you believe me when I say that I’m genuinely sorry for doing just that.”

Lelouch sighed and let his shoulders drop. It was like he released all the tension in his body at once. “I do believe you, but as I’m sure you know, apologising doesn’t really change the fact that you still did hurt me. I’m not afraid of many things, but losing you tops the list — and it was far too close just now.”

That… was not easy to hear. This was the first time Lelouch explicitly said Suzaku had hurt him, and well, that was worse.

How in the world could he ever make up for this?   
  


 

❋❋❋❋❋❋❋

 

 

Lelouch watched as Suzaku visibly deflated in front of his eyes. He didn’t like to be the reason for that, but they really did need to talk this out, and it would do nothing to help if he wasn’t honest, at least this once. He  _ wanted _ them to get past this, but that was never going to happen without both of them being honest and admitting to their mistakes — or, in this case, without Lelouch being honest and Suzaku admitting to his mistakes. One day it would likely go the other way around, but that wasn’t now. 

They could work their way through this, he was sure. 

Suzaku turned around to leave, but as he was reaching for the cliff’s wall, meaning to climb up, Lelouch stopped him. He placed his hand on Suzaku’s and hoped he would get the hint. He didn’t want Suzaku to leave — he couldn’t watch him go. He’d waited long enough for Suzaku to come, and even if it was only because Gino and Anya forced him, he was now here anyway. Lelouch couldn’t afford to let him go, not yet anyway. 

“Don’t leave, please”, Lelouch said and looked Suzaku in the eyes as he glanced at him, confusion in his eyes. “You are more precious to me than you believe and I do not want to lose you. I fear that if I let you go now, that is what will happen.”

Suzaku stopped and turned back. His eyes examined Lelouch’s carefully before a small smile spread on his face. It wasn’t really a happy smile, but what it  _ was _ was relieved. That was better than nothing. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay”, he said and put his free hand on the one that was still on Suzaku’s. 

Lelouch returned the smile and gave Suzaku’s hand a light squeeze. Then he pulled Suzaku towards him by his hand and hugged him, which seemed to really surprise him — whether it was because of the hug itself or because it was Lelouch who’d initiated  it, he didn’t know, but it didn’t really matter that much right now anyway. 

“I’m sorry for earlier, by the way. I couldn’t you have you touch me then, I knew I wouldn’t be able to take it. I still should have expressed it in some other way. I don’t actually mind you touching me at all”, Lelouch whispered. The only indicator that Suzaku had actually even heard him was that Suzaku squeezed him a little tighter for a second after it. “But, our friendship isn’t beyond repairing. It just… needs a lot of work. We’ll be all right, just let me stay like this for a while. I need time.”

“Always, ‘Louch.”

(Lelouch loved the way Suzaku said his name, especially the nickname he’d given.)

After what seemed like an eternity, Lelouch finally let go and swam a bit farther from Suzaku — he was close enough to be withing touching reach but far enough to be able to see all of Suzaku that was above the surface easily. He breathed in deep and let out the breath he’d been holding, getting ready to speak again. “Alright, I forgive you”, he finally said, and smiled, when Suzaku perked up. Oh god, he was basically a human puppy. 

“You do?”

“Yes, I did just say so, didn’t I?”

“I’m so glad, thank you!”

A soft chuckle escaped Lelouch’s lips as he watched Suzaku get all excited for that one thing. It was adorable. 

(And he was never, ever going to admit that out loud to anyone,  _ especially _ Milly or C.C.. They were insufferable as it was.)

That was right. He should probably address Suzaku’s confession from earlier, too — after all, he hadn’t even bothered to express he’d heard Suzaku back then. It wasn’t fair to him, and if Lelouch was being honest, he was pretty sure it was going to hurt Suzaku if he just ignored it. 

Besides, since he loved Suzaku as well (it became a  _ little too clear _ during the time he didn’t see Suzaku at all), there was no reason not to tell him. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them otherwise — this whole mess was created because of their feelings in the first place. 

“So… About you being in love with me.”

“Oh god. Here we go. Please don’t hate me. I value our friendship so much I couldn’t take it. I’m fine with you rejecting me and all that, please just don’t tell me to go away. I couldn’t help it, you were just so amazing and you made me feel safe and like, you know, it just kind of happened and I—”

“Does it really look like I hate you?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Shut up, now will you?. I love you too.”

Suzaku just stopped in his tracks and turned slowly towards Lelouch. He’d turned to the side flailing his hands earlier when he’d been trying to explain himself. Now his hands were frozen in weird position and his expression was… well, completely and utterly disbelieving. 

“Come again? I don’t think I heard you that well.”

Lelouch sighed but smiled at Suzaku. “I said, I love you too. As in, I’m in love with you as well.”

It still seemed Suzaku couldn’t believe him. He was just standing there, staring at Lelouch like he was the eighth world wonder. It was a little uncomfortable for Lelouch to be under Suzaku’s intense gaze. 

Cold waves hit the cliff behind Suzaku and washed over them every now and then. Suzaku’s hair and the tip of his nose was dripping water and his clothes were thoroughly soaked. Lelouch wasn’t sure how Suzaku’s body could actually handle it, but at least the weather was otherwise warm. Maybe he’d survive. He wasn’t probably (hopefully) going to catch a cold. 

“You… love me? Really? This is probably the best day ever. Thank you god for making Lelouch so blind he actually fell for the mess that is me. I can’t believe this.”

And now he was rambling. Of course. Lelouch should have expected it from Suzaku, honestly. “And I— ugh, you know what, fuck it. Can I just please kiss you?”

So, Lelouch  _ had _ been half-expecting that question, it didn’t come as a total surprise, but  _ god _ did it make him flustered anyway. Lelouch blushed and turned his gaze away from Suzaku, embarrassed. He was probably completely red and sure that Suzaku could see it easily. It was a little…  _ disturbing _ to let someone other than Nunnally see him so vulnerable and easy to read. 

But, even so, Lelouch nodded and waited for Suzaku to initiate it. He himself was too flustered to try anything. He was nervous, but honestly, he had expected it and was quite sure that was the case with Suzaku as well. That thought made it easier. He could deal with having butterflies in his stomach as long as Suzaku was there with him and it was Suzaku causing them. 

Suzaku walked the few steps needed towards him and cupped Lelouch face in his hands, turning it towards him. His hands were warm (and wet) as he cradled Lelouch’s cheeks and gave him a quick kiss on the nose before he pressed his lips on Lelouch’s. 

It was like the rest of the world just stopped and disappeared. Suddenly, the world lost its meaning to Lelouch completely, only the two of them existed anymore. He was hyper aware of Suzaku’s hands on his cheeks and he could almost feel Suzaku’s heartbeat against his chest. 

He leant in a little himself, kissing Suzaku back. This was so much better than the last time as there was no uncertainty of the other’s feelings this time.

It didn’t last too long, not more than a couple of seconds, but that was alright. Lelouch was perfectly satisfied with this. 

A small, soft smile graced his lips as he looked Suzaku in the eyes with a fond gaze. Suzaku moved his hands from Lelouch’s face to his waist under the surface and brought him closer, embracing Lelouch, which Lelouch was quick to return. He rested his head against Suzaku’s shoulder, his hands wrapped behind his neck. 

“Do you need anything else I could give you now? You seemed so sad earlier — though it was my fault —, I want to make you happy”, Suzaku said, but Lelouch shook his head. His hair tickled Suzaku’s neck and ears. 

“No, the comfort of your body pressed against mine is all I need right now”, he replied, squeezing Suzaku tighter against him. He didn’t want to let go, he felt safe and comfortable where he was right now. That was quite rare — there were only a handful of beings who managed that. The warmth of Suzaku embraced him. 

When they did finally let go of one another (although, if Lelouch didn’t imagine it, rather reluctantly), Suzaku took one look at him and started laughing. Lelouch would have been offended, but it was rather contagious, so instead, he found himself chuckling along. 

“I’m— I’m sorry, I’ve been waiting for this for so long even if I didn’t dare to hope it would actually happen, but I just— God. Seriously, despite what they say, perfect definitely does exist”, Suzaku said, trying not to laugh. “I mean, just look at you. You should be the literal definition of perfection in the dictionary”, he continued, gesturing at all of Lelouch. 

Lelouch shook his head fondly and smiled. “You’re so weird. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Yeah, they were going to be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so... Things ended well.  
> For now. 
> 
> Also, yeah, let's stick to my chapter a month schedule, I can't handle anything else. I was stressing with this too but I wanted it done so here we are. 
> 
> As always, if you've got any questions of the AU, feel free to ask them! I'll answer to the best of my abilities. 
> 
> Don't forget to comment and leave kudos.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading, I'll try to get back to writing this story as soon as I can. 
> 
> I very much love reading your comments so don't be afraid to tell me your thoughts on this! I'll also answer almost any questions you have of this AU if you just comment them. 
> 
> You can find my designs for Nunnally [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BvACrXwn7_D/) and Lelouch [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/BuzT0shhrRm/). (The links lead to my art instagram).
> 
>  
> 
> Come talk to me about anything, especially CG, on [tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
